HISTORY 


c^pi^copal  Cl^urcl)  in  Connecticut* 


CHRIST  CIIUKCII,  STKATFORD. 
Erected  in  1743;  ilomolisliod  in  1858. 


THE 


HISTORY 


episcopal  C1)urcf)  in  Connecticut, 


FROM   THE 


SETTLEMENT   OF  THE   COLONY   TO   THE    DEATH 
OF  BISHOP   SEABURY. 


E.   EDWARDS  ^BEARDSLEY,D.D., 

RECTOR  OF    ST.   THOMAS'    CHURCH,   NEW  HAVEN. 


NEW   YORK: 
PUBLISHED  BY   KURD   AND   HOUGHTON. 

BOSTON:  E.  P.   DUTTON  AND   COMPANY. 
1866. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  j'ear  1865,  by 

E.  Edwards  Beardsley, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Connecticut. 


RIVERSIDE,    CAMBRIDGE: 

STEREOTYPED    AND     PRINTED     BY 

H.   O.    HOUGHTON  AND   COMPANY. 


TO  THE 

RIGHT  REVEREND  JOHN  WILLIAMS,   D.D., 

FOURTH  BISHOP  OF  THE  DIOCESE  OF  CONNECTICUT, 
TO   VTHOSE  KIND  ENCOURAGEJIENT  ITS  PUBLICATION  IS   LARGELY  DUE, 

IN  TOKEN  OF  PRIVATE  GRATITUDE,   PERSONAL  FRIENDSHIP,  AND  A 
PRESBYTER'S  DUTIFUL  RESPECT, 

IS  DEDICATED 

BY  THE  AUTHOR 


PREFACE. 


In  January,  186,4, 1  commenced  a  series  of  Lectures 
to  my  own  people  on  the  early  History  of  Episco- 
pacy in  Connecticut.  My  object  was  twofold:  to 
use  and  work  into  shape  materials  which  I  had  been 
gathering  for  years;  and  to  awaken  an  interest  in 
subjects  that  were  in  danger  of  being  overlooked 
amid  the  excitements  of  the  day  and  the  attraction 
of  popular  themes. 

The  favor  with  which  my  effort  was  received  en- 
couraged me  to  make  deeper  researches  than  I  at 
first  intended,  and  my  investigations  led  me  to  con- 
sider and  examine  topics  hitherto  approached  with 
tenderness,  if  not  with  fear  and  trembling.  What- 
ever estimate  may  be  put  upon  such  inquiries,  it 
certainly  demands  some  courage  to  begin  and  pros- 
ecute them  to  a  successful  issue.  Memorials  of  the 
past,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  state,  increase  in  value 
as  time  goes  on,  and  events  and  "good  deeds  done 
for  the  house  of  our  God  and  for  the  offices  thereof" 
are  often  lost  for  want  of  the  recording  pen.  Many 
facts  which  might  have  easily  been  collected,  even 
half  a  century  ago,  now  float  only  in  tradition,  or 


viii  PREFACE. 

else  lie  buried  in  faded  and  tattered  manuscripts, 
so  that  he  must  be  as  a  bold  diver  for  pearls,  who 
would  go  down  into  the  depths  of  unwritten  history 
and  bring  them  up  from  their  secret  hiding-places. 

When  the  course  was  finished,  the  Lectures  were 
carefully  revised,  broken  into  chapters,  large  portions 
of  them  entirely  rewritten,  and  much  new  matter 
added.  Their  publication  in  the  present  form  has 
been  called  for  from  various  quai-ters,  and  I  have 
given  them  to  the  press  in  the  humble  hope  that 
they  may  serve  to  excite  the  churchmen  of  Con- 
necticut to  gratitude  for  the  struggles  borne  by 
their  forefathers,  as  well  as  teach  them  to  prize  more 
highly  the  rich  inheritance  into  which  they  have 
come.  It  ought  never  to  be  forgotten  what  a  vast 
debt  is  due  to  the  men  who,  from  Johnson  down  to 
Seabury,  carried  the  Church  in  this  Diocese  through 
troublous  and  stormy  epochs,  till  finally  she  was 
planted  in  peace,  and  Uke  "a  vineyard  in  a  very 
fruitful  hill."  Grown  to  greatness  under  "the  con- 
tinual dew  of  the  divine  blessing,"  she  still  retains, 
and  long  may  she  retain,  the  distinct  impress  of 
her  original  character. 

Minuteness  of  detail  would  have  swelled  the  volume 
to  an  unusual  size;  but  I  have  aimed  to  exhibit  all 
the  important  facts  necessary  to  a  complete  historic 
survey  of  the  Church  in  the  period  which  has  been 
reviewed.  Mistakes  and  omissions  may  have  unin- 
tentionally occurred,  and  whoever  discovers  them 
will  do  me  a  favor  by  pointing  them  out  in  a  kindly 


PREFACE.  ix 

spirit,  that  they  may  be  corrected  and  supphed.  I 
have  had  no  such  unworthy  object  before  my  mind 
as  to  present  eulogy  under  the  guise  of  history,  and 
it  has  not  been  in  my  heart  to  speak  with  severity 
of  those  from  whom  we  theologically  differ.  While 
I  confess  to  a  strong  attachment  for  the  Episcopal 
Church,  —  having  descended  from  one  of  the  families 
which  kindled  her  fires  in  Stratford  under  the  earliest 
Missionary, — I  am  not  conscious  of  any  undue  partial- 
ity in  my  statements.  It  has  been  my  study  to  seek 
and  write  the  truth;  and  the  careful  reader  will  find 
that  I  have  been  no  more  ready  to  hold  up  to  cen- 
sure the  harsh  and  bigoted  sectarian  than  the  indis- 
creet and  guilty  member  of  my  own  communion. 

Little  allowance  has  hitherto  been  made  for  those 
who  steadily  adhered  to  the  cause  of  the  Cro^vn 
during  the  War  of  the  Revolution.  The  Loyalists, 
for  the  most  part,  have  been  rudely  assailed  by  Amer- 
ican historians,  and  their  motives  and  principles  mis- 
represented and  occasionally  traduced.  The  time  has 
come  for  a  more  dispassionate  consideration  of  their 
actions.  The  events  of  the  last  four  years  in  our 
country  must  teach  us  to  entertain  a  higher  respect 
for  the  men  who  did  not  at  once  join  in  the  cause  for 
independence,  violate  their  oaths  of  allegiance,  and  dis- 
own submission  to  the  long-established  Government. 

The  course  of  the  narrative  is  not  interrupted  by 
numerous  foot-notes,  but  a  list  of  some  of  the  author- 
ities and  sources  of  information  consulted  or  referred 
to  will  be  found  at  the  end,  before  the  Index.     No 


X  PREFACE. 

one,  unless  he  has  tried  it,  can  judge  of  the  time  and 
labor  necessary  to  be  spent  in  examining  authori- 
ties, and  searching  old  manuscripts  and  town  rec- 
ords, to  produce  a  work  of  this  kind.  I  acknowl- 
edge myself  under  obligations  to  several  persons  for 
supplying  me  with  facts  in  their  possession,  and  for 
the  loan  of  rare  books  and  pamj^hlets.  Mr.  Charles 
J.  Hoadley,  State  Librarian  at  Hartford,  has  put  into 
my  hands  copies  of  all  the  unprinted  petitions  rela- 
tive to  the  Church  of  England  on  file  in  the  office 
of  the  Secretary  of  State.  My  thanks  are  espe- 
cially due  to  Mr.  William  Samuel  Johnson  of  Strat- 
ford, for  free  access  to  the  letters  and  papers  of  his 
grandfather  and  great-grandfather.  The  sea  of  John- 
son MSS.  has  been  explored  with  abundant  satisfac- 
tion, and  many  of  the  extracts  to  be  found  in  the 
body  of  the  work  have  been  copied  from  the  original 
draughts  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Johnson,  rather  than  from 
the  letters  printed  in  that  valuable  publication,  the 
"Documentary  History  of  the  Protestant  EjDiscopal 
Church  in  Connecticut."  The  Library  of  Yale  Col- 
lege has  been  open  to  me  at  all  times,  and  the  Good- 
rich and  Kingsley  Collections  of  Pamphlets  have 
aided  me  greatly  in  my  researches. 

The  materials  for  another  volume,  bringing  the  his- 
tory down  to  the  death  of  Bishop  Brownell,  are  partly 
gathered;  but  the  cares  of  a  parish  press  upon  me  so 
much  that  an  immediate  use  of  them  is  not  promised. 

E.  E.  B. 

New  Haven,  November,  1865. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    SETTLEMENT   OF   NEW  ENGLAND,   AND    THE    RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY 
ESTABLISHED   BY   THE    PURITANS. 

A.  D.  1620-1665. 

PAGK 

The  Colonies  of  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  Bay  planted  .        .       1 

Rise  of  the  Puritans  in  England,  and  their  part  in  the  Reformation  .  3 
Their  treatment  under  Queen  Elizabeth  and  the  House  of  Stuart  .  4 
Severity  of  Aj-chbishop  Laud,  and  his  attempt  to  establish  uniformity 

by  the  secular  arm  ..........       5 

Sufferings  of  the  Puritans,  the  fruit  of  the  principles  of  the  times  .  6 
Preparations  for  the  settlement  of  Connecticut,  and  the  arrival  of  Win- 

throp,  the  younger,  from  England    .......       9 

John  Davenport  and  his  associates  anchor  their  ships  in  Quinnipiack 

harbor,  and  plant  the  Colony  of  New  Haven 10 

William  Pitkin  and  six  others,  "  members  of  the  Church  of  England," 

petition  the  General  Assembly  for  a  redress  of  grievances  .  .  10 
Church  and  State  united,  and  the  people  taxed  to  support  the  standing 

order       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         •         .11 

Execution  of  Charles  I.,  and  overturn  of  the  British  Government  .  13 
The  New-England  Puritans  no  better  friends  to  liberty  of  conscience 

than  their  adversaries 14 

Restoration  of  Charles  II.,  and  revival  of  affection  for  the  Church  of 

England 15 

CHAPTER  II. 

COMMISSIONERS   OF    CHARLES   THE   SECOND  ;   AND   ORIGIN  OF   EPISCO- 
PACY IN   CONNECTICUT. 

A.  D.  1665-1722. 

An  "  Act  of  Toleration  "  passed  by  the  General  Assembly  of  Connect- 
icut in  1708     16 

Charter  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts 17 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

Missionary  labors  of  Keith  and  Talbot 18 

The  Rev.  George  Muirson  of  Rye,  in  company  with  Col.  Caleb  Heath- 
cote,  visits  Stratford  and  baptizes  a  number  of  adults       .         .         .20 

The  Congrcgationalists  in  Stratford  invite  the  Rev.  Timothy  Cutler 
to  become  their  Pastor .21 

After  a  ministry  often  years  among  them,  he  is  made  Rector  of  Yale 
College 22 

Organization  of  the  parish  in  Stratford,  and  death  of  Mr.  Muirson      .     23 

The  Rev.  Francis  Philips  sent  out  a  Missionary  by  the  Society  in 
London,  but  proves  unfit  for  the  station  ......     26 

Arrival  of  the  Rev.  George  Pigot  at  Stratford,  and  renewal  of  the  ef- 
fort to  build  a  church       .........     27 

Astounding  events  in  the  religious  history  of  the  colony       .         .         .28 

Rector  Cutler,  and  several  of  the  neighboring  ministers,  declare  for 
Episcopacy,  or  doubt  the  validity  of  Presbytenan  ordination    .         .     29 

Debate  in  the  Library  of  Yale  College,  presided  over  by  Gov.  Salton- 
stall 30 


CHAPTER  IIL 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  LITURGY  AND  TEACHINGS  OF  THE  CHURCH 
OF  ENGLAND  ;  AND  THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  DEBATE  IN  THE  LIBRARY 
OF    YALE    COLLEGE. 

A.  D.  1722-1723. 

The  annual  Commencement  in  1722  .......     32 

Samuel  Johnson,  the  Congregational  minister  at  West  Haven,  and 
Rector  Cutler,  and  Daniel  Brown,  the  Tutor  in  the  College,  his 
intimate  friends        ..........     33 

His  love  for  the  Prayer  Book      ........     34 

Extracts  from  his  private  journal,  and  the  uneasiness  of  his  conscience     36 
The  alarm  of  the  Trustees  at  the  change  in  their  religious  sentiments  ; 
and  the  request  for  their  views  in  writing  upon  the  matters  which 
troubled  their  consciences        .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .37 

The  minds  and  pens  of  distinguished  Congregational  divines  busy        .     39 
Mr.  Cutler  excused  from  all  furthec  service  as  Rector  of  Yale  Col- 
lege, and  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Brown,  as  Tutor,  accepted     .         .     42 
Efforts  to  guard  the  established  religion  of  the  Colony,  and  to  main- 
tain the  faith  and  ecclesiastical  organization  of  the  Puritans    .         .     42 
Cutler,  Johnson,  and  Brown  embark  for  England  to  receive  Holy 

Orders 43 

Arrival  at  Canterbury,  and  visit  to  the  Cathedral  .  .  •  .44 
Reception  by  the  Dean  and  a  company  of  Prebendaries  .  .  .45 
Arrangements  in  London  for  their  ordination  and  future  duties  .        .    46 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

PAGE 

Cutler  seized  with  the  small-pox,  and  the  ordination  delayed  .  .  47 
Ordained  by  the  Bishop  of  Norwich  near  the  end  of  March  .  .  47 
Another  great  disappointment ;  Death  of  Brown  on  Easter  Eve  .     48 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE   RETURN   OF    CUTLER   AND   JOHNSON    TO   AMERICA,   AND   THE    IN- 
CREASE   OF    THE    CHURCH   OF    ENGLAND    IN   CONNECTICUT. 

A.   D.    1723-1727. 

Preparations  for  returning 49 

Visits  to  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and  honors  conferred  upon  Cutler 
and  Johnson    ...........     49 

Joined  by  James  Wetmore,  the  Congregational  minister  at   North 

Haven 49 

Appeal  for  an  American  Episcopate,  and  interest  of  Bishop  Gibson  in 
the  measure     ...........     50 

Arrival  of  the  Missionaries  in  New  England,  and  Johnson's  entry  in 

his  private  journal  after  reaching  Stratford      .         .         ,         ,         .51 
Opening  of  the  first  Episcopal  church  in  Connecticut .         .         .         .62 

Mr.  Pigot's  Parochial  Register;  and  letter  of  Johnson  to  the  Bishop  of 

London 53 

Appeals  of  churchmen  in  Newtown,  Redding,  and  Ripton,  to  the  So- 
ciety for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  .         .     55 
Hostility  to  the  Church  of  England,  and  its  increase  in  the  Colony       .     56 
Johnson  officiates  at  New  London        .         .         .         .         .         .         .57 

Church  built  at  Fairfield     .........     58 

Talcott,  the  Governor  of  Connecticut,  writing  to  the  Bishop  of  London     58 
Imprisonment  of  members  of  the  Church  of  England  for  refusing  to 
pay  taxes  to  support  dissenting  ministers  .....     59 

State  of  the  Church  in  the  Colony,  and  extent  of  Johnson's  ministra- 
tions          60 

The  Church  in  Connecticut  rooted  amid  storms  and  opposition    .         .     60 

CHAPTER  V. 

THB   EFFECT    OF    CANDID    INVESTIGATION,    AND    THE    ENACTMENT    OF 
A    LAW    IN   CONNF.CTICUT    TO    RELIEVE   CHURCHMEN. 

A.  D.  1727-1729. 

Puritans  disturbing  the  settled  order  of  religion 62 

Quincy's  statement  of  the  operations  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation 

of  the  Gospel 63 

Its  opposition  to  historical  facts 63 


Xiv  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Interest  in  the  Church  at  New  Haven 65 

The  Rev.  Henry  Caner  appointed  a  Missionary  in  Fairfield,  and  the 
condition  of  the  Congregationalists  in  that  town       .         .         .        .66 

The  extent  of  his  ministrations 68 

The  churchmen  of  Fairfield  memorializing  the  General  Assembly  for 

relief  from  oppressive  taxation 69 

Passage  of  a  law  in  favor  of  members  of  the  Church  of  England  .         .     70 
Construction  put  upon  it ;  and  another  Memorial         .         .         .         .71 

Apologies  for  the  course  of  the  Government 72 

Mr.  Caner  applies  to  the  Society  for  an  enlargement  of  his  Missionary 

bounds,  and  permission  to  change  his  place  of  residence  .         .         .78 
Legal  opinion  in  England  adverse  to  the  scheme          .         .        .        .74 
Removal  of  families  into  the  Province  of  New  York  to  escape  annoy- 
ance          74 

Subscriptions  towards  the  erection  of  a  church  at  Wethersfield   .        .     75 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ARRIVAL    OF     DEAN    BERKELEY    IN    RHODE    ISLAND ;     HIS    BENEFAC- 
TIONS  TO    YALE   college;    AND    NEW    MISSIONARIES   IN   CONNECT- 

ICDT. 

A.  D.  1729-1734. 

Royal  charter  to  found  a  college  at  Bermuda 76 

Appropriation  from  the  crown  lands  in  St.  Kitts  to  promote  the  object  77 
Devotion  of  Berkeley  to  the  benevolent  enterprise      .        .         .         .77 

His  mental  studies  and  "  Minute  Philosopher  " 78 

The  faithlessness  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  and  the  return  of  the  Dean 

to  his  native  country 79 

Consecrated  Bishop  of  Cloyne  in  Ireland 80 

Anniversary  sermon  before  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 

Gospel 80 

Mr.  Johnson  visits  him  at  Newport,  and  is  charmed  by  his  genius  and 

character         .         , 81 

Donation  of  books  and  lands  to  Yale  College 82 

Ingratitude  of  Rector  Williams 84 

The  Rev.  James  McSparran,  and  his  "  America  Dissected"        .        .  85 
Samuel  Seabury,  a  Congregational  licentiate  at  North  Groton,  de- 
clares for  Episcopacy,  and  proceeds  to  England  for  Holy  Orders      .  86 
Returns  with  the  appointment  of  a  Missionary  to  New  London    .         .  86 
Increase  of  a  good  temper  towards  the  Church ;  new  candidates  for 

Orders,  and  the  want  of  a  resident  Bishop        ....  87 
John  Beach,  the  popular  Independent  minister  at  Newtown,  declares . 

for  Episcopacy .        .        .89 


CONTENTS. 


XV 


Appointed  a  Missionary  among  his  former  people 
Church  built  in  Newtown ;  and  Ebenezer  Punderson 
The  rooted  tree  spreading  out  its  salubrious  branches 


FAOE 

90 
91 

92 


CHAPTER  VII. 

RELIGIOUS   CONTROVERSY  ;   AND   THE   GROWTH   OF   THE   PARISHES. 
A.  D.  1734-1738. 


A  parishioner  of  Johnson  assailed  by  Jonathan  Dickinson  . 
Controversy  printed,  and  new  champions  in  the  field 
Popular  attention  drawn  to  the  Church  of  England  . 
Prolonged  controversy  between  Mr.  Dickinson  and  Mr.  Beach . 
Episcopacy  gaining  strength  in  the  Colony        .... 
A  church  built  at  Hebron  ;  and  John  Bliss,  a  lay  reader  . 
Punderson  appointed  an  Itinerant  Missionary,  with  his  residence  at 

North  Groton 

Mr.  Caner  visits  England  for  the  benefit  of  his  health 

Extract  from  a  letter  of  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester  to  Johnson,  touchin 

an  American  Episcopate 

Richard  Caner  a  teacher  in  Fairfield  and  a  lay  reader  at  Norwalk 
Glebes  and  ministerial  support ....... 

A  second  and  larger  church  erected  at  Fairfield 
Spiritual  condition  of  the  Colony,  and  religious  revival 
The  Church  a  gainer  by  steadily  presenting  the  truth 


94 
95 
96 
97 
98 
99 

100 
101 

101 
102 
102 
103 
104 
105 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   CHURCHMEN   OF    CONNECTICUT   PETITIONING   FOR  A   REDRESS  OF 
THEIR   GRIEVANCES  ;   AND    REACTION   OF   PUBLIC   SENTIMENT. 

A.  D.  1738-1740. 

Petition  of  churchmen  to  the  General  Assembly  in  relation  to  the  act 
appropriating  moneys  arising  from  the  sale  of  lands       .         .         .     107 

Reasons  why  it  should  be  so  amended  as  to  secure  to  them  their  equi- 
table proportion     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .108 

The  memorial  signed  by  six  hundred  and  thirty-six  males,  and  rejected 
by  both  Houses  of  Assembly  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .110 

Jonathan  Arnold  conforms  to  the  Church  of  England,  and  is  appointed 
Itinerant  Missionary,  with  his  residence  at  West  Haven  .         .111 

Public  service  at  Milford,  and  movements  to  build  churches  in  Derby 
and  West  Haven 112 


Xvi  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

Mr.  Arnold  prevented  from  getting  possession  of  Gregson's  land  by  a 
mob .     114 

The  clergy  of  Connecticut  unite  in  a  complaint  to  the  Society  of  the 
grievances  they  suffer  from  the  Government 115 

Mr.  Arnold  removes  to  Staten  Island,  and  is   succeeded  by  Rev. 

Theophilus  Morris,  an  English  clergyman 116 

The  present  church  at  West  Haven  a  specimen  of  Colonial  Archi- 


tecture 


118 


New  demands  for  the  services  of  the  Missionaries       .         .         .         .119 
Reaction  of  public  sentiment,  and  lingering  reverence  for  the  Church 

ofEngland 119 

Sentiment  and  words  of  Higginson  on  embarking  for  America  .         .120 


CHAPTER   IX. 

ARRIVAL    OF    WHITEFIELD     IN    NEW   ENGLAND,    AND    RELIGIOUS   EN- 
THUSIASM. 

A.  D.   1740-1742. 

The  ordination  of  Whitefield,  and  his  course  rebuked  by  Bishops  and 

clergy  in  England 121 

Arrival  in  Rhode  Island,  and  reception  by  the  Independent  ministers     122 

Visit  to  Boston,  and  religious  enthusiasm 123 

Visit  to  Jonathan  Edwards  at  Northampton,  and  welcomes  in  New 

Haven 124 

Sparks  of  religious  discord  kindling 125 

Extravagant  demonstrations  under  the  preaching  of  Gilbert  Tennent, 

and  irregularities  of  James  Davenport 125 

Course  of  tbe  Episcopal  clergy,  and  their  condemnation  by  the  Inde- 
pendent ministers  .         .        .         .         .         .         .        •         .         .127 

Rapid  growth  of  the  Church  in  the  interior,  and  demand  for  more 

Missionaries 128 

Richard  Caner  goes  to  England  for  ordination,  and  letter  from  John- 
son to  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne   130 

Divisions  among  the  Congregationalists,  and  church  built  at  Water- 
bury       131 

Organization  of  a  parish  in  Northbury 132 

Church  raised  at  Ripton,  and  effects  of  popular  enthusiasm        .        .     133 


CONTENTS.  Xvil 

CHAPTER   X. 

A   COMMISSARY   FOR    CONNECTICUT   SOLICITED  ;   AND  THE   INFLUENCE 
OF    WHITEFIELD'S   PREACHING. 

A.  D.  1742-1747. 

PAGE 

Kev.  Roger  Price  the  Commissary  for  all  New  England     .         .         .     134 
Commissary  for  Connecticut  solicited,  and  Mr.  Johnson  named  as  a 
suitable  person  for  the  appointment        .         .         .         .         .         .134 

Animosity  of  the  Rev.  Theophilus  Morris  .         .         .         .         .         .135 

The  Bishop  of  London  unwilling  to  change  his  commission         .         .     136 
Rev.  James  Lyons  appointed  a  successor  to  Mr.  Morris      .         .         .136 
Honorary  Degree  conferred  upon  Johnson  by  the  university  of  Oxford     137 
A  new  church  built  at  Stratford         .         .         .         .         .         .         .138 

Rev.  Richard  Caner  sent  a  Missionary  to  Norwalk,  and  a  new  church 
erected  there,  and  also  at  Newtown        .         .         .         .         .         .139 

Laws  enacted  to  suppress  enthusiasm,  and  their  operation  .         .140 

Churches  built  in    Woodbury,  New  Milford,  Norwich,  and  other 

places 141 

Mr.  Richardson  Minor  declares  for  Episcopacy,  and  dies  on  his  way 
to  England  for  Holy  Orders  ........     142 

Rev.  William  Gibbs  sent  to  Simsbury,  and  removal  of  Mr.  Caner  to 

Boston 143 

Candidates  for  Holy  Orders,  and  renewed  appeals  for  an  American 

Episcopate 144 

Gloomy  picture  of  the  moral  and  religious  state  of  the  colony    .         .     145 
Whitefield  returns  to  New  England,  and  is  denounced  by  Associa- 
tions of  Connecticut  divines,  and  by  the  authorities  of  Harvard 

and  Yale 146 

A  love  for  Episcopacy  manifested  in  New  Haven,  and  especially  in 

the  College 148 

Influence  of  laymen,  and  perpetuity  of  the  Church's  system       .         .     149 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE     EPISCOPAL     CLERGY    KEEPING     ALOOF     FROM     SECTARIAN    CON- 
TROVERSIES ;   AND    THE   GENERAL   PROSPERITY   OF    THE   CHURCH. 

A.    D.    1747-1752. 

Decline  of  religious  enthusiasm,  and  prudence  of  the  Episcopal  clergy  151 

Vacancies  in  Connecticut  .........  152 

Appointment  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lamson  to  Fairfield    ....  153 

Church  built  under  his  ministrations  at  Stratfield       ...  154 
b 


Xviii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Stamford  and  Greenwich  assist  their  lay  reader,  Ebenezer  DIbblee, 

to  go  to  England  for  ordination 155 

Misfoi'^une  of  the  Norwalk  people 156 

Richard  Mansfield  and  Jeremiah  Leaming  in  Holy  Orders  .  .157 
Letter  of  Dr.  Johnson  to  the  Society,  and  his  vigilance  and  fideUty  .  157 
Graduates  of  Yale  College,  and  Thomas  B.  Chandler  .  .  .159 
Report  of  the  Rev.  Matthew  Graves,  the  Missionary  at  New  London  160 
General  prosperity  of  the  Church  throughout  the  Colony  .  .  .  162 
Ichabod  Camp  and  Jonathan  Colton  ;  death  of  Mr.  Colton        .        .164 

CHAPTER   XIL 

MEMORIALS     OF     CHURCHMEN    IN     CONNECTICUT     TO     THE     GENERAL 
ASSEMBLY ;   AND    ORGANIZATION   OF  TRINITY  PARISH,  NEW   HAVEN. 

A.  D.  1752-1753. 

Memorials  to  the  General  Assembly,  and  opposition  of  Mr.  Graves  .  166 
Punderson's  ministrations  in  New  Haven  County  .  .  .  .167 
Design  of  William  Gregson's  "  indenture  "  to  Jonathan  Arnold  .     168 

Defect  in,  and  its  entry  upon  the  Land  Records  .  .  .  .169 
Statement  of  the  case,  signed  by  six  clergymen,  sent  to  the  Society  .  169 
Increase  of  the  Church  at  New  Haven,  and  formation  of  Trinity 

Parish 170 

Another  defective  deed,  and  application  to  the  General  Assembly  .  171 
Enos  Ailing  and  Isaac  Doolittle,  influential  members  of  the  parish  .  171 
The  church  built,  and  number  of  worshippers  .•  .  .  .  .172 
Mr.  Punderson  petitions  to  be  appointed  the  Missionary  in  New 

Haven 173 

Noah  Hobart's  "  Addresses  to  the  members  of  the  Episcopal  separa- 
tion in  New  England  " 1 73 

Charge  against  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel,  and  defence 
by  Mr.  Beach 174 

CHAPTER  XIIL 

EDUCATION  ;   AND   THE    REMOVAL    OF    DR.    JOHNSON    TO     NEW   YORK 
TO    ACCEPT    THE    PRESIDENCY   OF    KING'S    COLLEGE. 

A.    D.    1753-1756. 

Renewed  zeal  of  Churchmen,  and  intelligence  of  the  Laity       .        .176 

Education  in  the  hands  of  the  Independents 177 

Dr.  Johnson  refuses  the  oversight  of  a  college  at  Philadelphia,  and 
accepts  the  Presidency  of  King's  College,  New  York  .         .178 


CONTENTS.  xix 


Charter  of  the  Institution  opposed     ..... 
Removal  of  Johnson  to  New  York     ..... 
Measures  adopted  by  Yale  College  to  maintain  the  Puritan  systi 
Attraction  of  Episcopal  students  to  King's  College    . 
William  Johnson  embarks  for  England  to  receive  Holy  Orders 
Death  from  the  small-pox,  and  grief  of  his  father 
Pathetic  appeal  for  an  American  Episcopate 
Entries  in  the  Parochial  Register  of  the  church  at  Stratford 
Labors  among  the  Indians 


PAGE 

179 
180 
181 
183 
183 
184 
184 
186 
186 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

SUCCESSOR   TO   DR.  JOHNSON  AT  STRATFORD  ;   AND  THEOLOGICAL  DIS- 
PUTES   BETWEEN    THE   OLD   LIGHTS   AND    THE   NEW   LIGHTS. 

A.    D.    1756-1760. 

The  Rev.  Edward  Winslow  appointed  to  Stratford  .  .  .  .188 
Introduction  of  the  first  organ  into  the  Colony  .         .         .         .         .189 

Christopher  Newton  and  Solomon  Palmer 189 

The  number  of  Missionaries  in  Connecticut,  and  new  churches  .        .189 

Church  built  at  Tashua 191 

Growth  of  the  parishes  affected  by  the  old  French  war  .  .  .192 
Theological  disputes,  and  the  Discourse  of  Mr.  Beach  .  .  .193 
Controversy  between  the  Old  Lights  and  New  Lights ;  Wallingford 

case       .        .        .        .     " 194 

James  Scovill  added  to  the  list  of  Missionaries,  and  removal  of  Mr. 

Camp  from  the  Colony 197 

Church  opened  at  Cheshire 198 

Lukewarmness  in  New  Haven 198 

A  contrast ^ 199 


CHAPTER  XV. 

PROSPERITY  OP   THE   CHURCH    IN    LITCHFIELD   COUNTY,   AND    ALONG 
THE   SHORE   FROM   NORWICH   TO   GREENWICH. 

A,  D.  1760-1762. 

Ministrations  of  Solomon  Palmer       .        .        .        .        .        .        .  200 

His  treatment  by  his  former  people 201 

Growth  of  Mr.  Beach's  Mission,  and  primitive  customs      .         .         .  202 
Thomas  Davies,  Samuel  Andrews,  and  John  Beardsley  embark  for 

England  to  receive  Holy  Orders 204 


XX  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Their  appointment  as  Missionaries     .......     205 

Conscientious  obedience  to  the  instructions  of  the  Society  .  .  .  207 
Church  at  Hebron  supphed  by  Samuel  Peters,  a  native  of  the  place  .  207 
Illness  of  Mr.  Gibbs,  and  appointment  of  Roger  Viets  to  discharge 

his  duties '208 

Prosperity  of  the  parishes  in  the  shore  towns  .....  209 
Bela  Hubbard  and  Abraham  Jarvis  proceed  to  England  for  ordination  210 
Increase  of  the  congregation  at  Ripton  ....'..  211 
Churches  erected  at  North  Fairfield  and  Danbury     .         .         .        .211 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

MR.    ST.    GEORGE    TALBOT  ;    BITTER    OPPOSITION    TO    THE    CHURCH  ; 
AND    DR.   JOHNSON'S    RETURN    TO    STRATFORD. 

A.   D.    1762-1763. 

Charitable  layman,  and  convention  of  the  clergy  at  Ripton        .         .212 
Pressing  need  of  more  Missionaries    .         .         .         .         .         .         .213 

Letters  of  Leaming  and  Winslow 214 

Dr.  Johnson's  second  marriage  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .216 

Domestic  affliction  ;  death  of  his  wife  from  small-pox  .         .         .217 

Resigns  the  Presidency  of  the  College  and  retires  to  Stratford  .         .217 

Appointment  to  his  former  charge 218 

Transfer  of  Mr.  Winslow  to  the  vacant  Mission  at  Braintree,  Mass.  .     219 
Death  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wetmore,  and  removal  of  Mr.  Punderson  to 

Rye 220 

The  Rev.  Solomon  Palmer  his  successor  at  New  Haven     .        .  221 

Result  of  the  changes 222 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

CHURCH    IN   NEW   HAVEN;    DEFENCE  OF  THE  SOCIETY  FOR  PROPAGAT- 
ING THE    GOSPEL  ;   AND    AN   AMERICAN    EPISCOPATE. 

A.  D.  1763-1764. 

Uninterrupted  services  of  the  Missionary  desired  in  New  Haven        .  223 

Purchase  of  Gregson's  land,  and  title  traced 224 

The  phantom  ship,  and  settlement  of  Thomas  Gregson's  estate  .         .  226 

Bitter  assaults  upon  the  Church  throughout  New  England         .         .  228 

The  Society  attacked  and  defended  .......  228 

Apthorp,  Beach,  Johnson,  and  Archbishop   Seeker  enter  into  the 

controversy    ...........  228 

Establishment  of  a  Mission  at  Cambridge,  the  seat  of  Harvard  College  230 


CONTENTS.  XXI 

FACE 

Attempt  to  overthrow  Episcopacy 231 

The  Independents  frightened  by  the  apparition  of  the  English  hie- 
rarchy    232 

Seeker's  reply  to  Mayhew,  and  vindication  of  an  American  Episcopate  233 

Rejoinder,  and  notice  by  Apthorp 234 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

HOSTILITY     TO     THE    CHURCH  ;     PASSAGE     OF     THE     STAMP-ACT  ;     AND 
THE   COURSE   OF    THE    CLERGY. 

A.  D.   1764-1766. 

State  of  the  public  mind 235 

Missions  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  Colony  .         .         .         .         .235 

Ministrations  of  Hubbard  and  Jarvis  ......     236 

Recall  of  Mr.  Palmer  to  the  Mission  in  Litchfield   County,   made 

vacant  by  the  death  of  Thomas  Davie s 237 

Parishes  formed  in  Watertown  and  Mihbrd,  and  churches  begun       .     238 
Signs  of  political  trouble    .........     239 

General  Congress  of  the  Colonies  to  remonstrate  against  the'  Stamp- 
Act        239 

Course  of  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  ....     240 

Dr.  Chandler's  letter  to  the  Society  .         .         .         .         .         .         .243 

Repeal  of  the  Stamp- Act  .........     246 

Declaratory  Act,  and  Webster's  description  of  its  effect  .  .  .  246 
Trials  and  disasters  in  store  for  the  Church  in  Connecticut  .  .247 
Vigilance  of  the  Missionaries,  and  their  Christian  character       .         .248 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

APPEAL  OF  THE  CLERGY  OF  CONNECTICUT  FOR  A  BISHOP;  DR. 
chandler's  PUBLICATIONS,  AND  THE  REPLIES  OF  HIS  ANTAGO- 
NISTS. 

A.    D.    1766. 

Convention  at  Stratford,  and  Address  of  the  clergy  ....  250 

Want  of  a  Bishop 250 

Resolution  of  the  Society  not  to  establish  any  more  Missions  in  New 

England 251 

Private  entreaties  for  an  American  Episcopate  unavailing         .         .  252 

Plans  of  union  among  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists       .         .  255 

Dr.  Chauncey's  notice  of  the  Bishop  of  Landaff's  sermon  .  .  .  256 
William  Livingston's  pamphlet  on  the  same  subject,  and  the  reply 

to  it .257 


XXU  CONTENTS. 

PAOB 

Chandler's  "  Appeal  to  the  Public,"  and  Dr.  Johnson's  assistance       .  257 

Spirit  of  the  attacks  upon  it  from  various  quarters     ....  259 

"  Appeal  to  the  Public  Answered,"  by  Dr.  Chauncey         .         .         .  260 

"  The  Appeal  Defended  " 261 

Action  of  Colonial  Legislatures 262 


CHAPTER  XX. 

WILLIAM  SAMUEL  JOHNSON  A  SPECIAL  AGENT  TO  ENGLAND  FROM 
THE  COLONY  OF  CONNECTICUT;  DEATH  OF  ARCHBISHOP  SECKER ; 
AND  CLOSE  OF  THE  PUBLIC  CONTROVERSY  CONCERNING  AN  AMER- 
ICAN  EPISCOPATE. 

A.  D.  1766-1771. 

Departure  of  Mr.  Johnson  for  England  as  a  special  agent  from  the 

Colony 263 

His  introduction  to  the  best  society,  and  interest  in  the  American 

Episcopate 263 

Extract  from  a  letter  to  Governor  Trumbull 265 

Death  of  Archbishop  Seeker 266 

His  character,  and  zeal  for  the  Church  in  this  country       .         .         .267 
Indifference  of  the  British  ministry  to  her  welfare,  and  political  mis- 
takes       268 

Dr.  Johnson  preparing  students  of  Divinity  for  Holy  Orders     .        .     269 

New  names  added  to  the  list  of  Missionaries 270 

Andrews,  Mansfield,  and  Peters  extend  their  ministrations  into  the 

more  northern  provinces  .  .  •  .  .  .  .  .271 
Church  built  in  that  part  of  Pomfret  now  called  Brooklyn  .  .273 
Trials  of  Godfrey  Malbone 274 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

SUPPORT  OF  THE  CLERGY;  RENEWAL  OF  THEIR  APPEAL  FOR  A 
BISHOP  ;  AND  PROCEEDINGS  OF  DELEGATES  FROM  THE  SYNOD  OF 
NEW  YORK  AND  PHILADELPHIA,  AND  FROM  THE  ASSOCIATIONS 
OF   CONNECTICUT. 

A.  D.  1771-1772.  ■ 

Provision  for  the  Missionaries 276 

Church  at  Middletown 277 

Libraries  of  the  clergy       .         .         .         .         ,         .         .         .         .277 
Effort  to  establish  the  Church  in  Hartford  unsuccessful     .        .         .278 

Suit  at  law  to  recover  land 279 

Signs  of  increased  interest  in  the  services  of  the  Church    .        .         .280 


CONTENTS.  Xxili 

FAOE 

Renewed  appeal  for  an  American  Episcopate 282 

Proceedings  of  Delegates  in  opposition  to  the  measure       .         .         .  283 

Letters  to  the  Committee  of  Dissenters  in  London      ....  283 

Statistics  of  Episcopalians  and  non-Episcopalians  in  the  Colony         .  286 
Religious  liberty,  and  the  General   Association  of  Congregational 

ministers  in  Connecticut 287 


CHAPTER    XXIL 

ENUMERATION     OF     EPISCOPALIANS     IN     CONNECTICUT  ;     ITS     INFLU- 
ENCE ;    AND    THE    DEATH    OF    REV.   DR.    JOHNSON. 

A.    D.    1772-1774. 

Proportion  of  Episcopalians  to  non-Episcopalians       ....  288 

Secret  opposition  to  the  Church 289 

Correspondence  of  Johnson  with  Bishop  Lowth  and  Dr.  Berkeley     .  290 

Spirit  of  the  Convention  of  Delegates 291 

Testimony  of  the  elder  Adams 291 

Connecticut  churchmen  emigrating  into  new  settlements   .         .         .  292 
Gideon  Bostwick  appointed  a  Missionary  in  Great  Barrington,  and 
James  Nichols,  the  last  of  those  from  Connecticut  who  went  to 

England  for  Holy  Orders 293 

Troubles  of  the  country  thickening,  and  no  new  missions  planted      .  293 

Death  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Johnson 295 

His  Life  compiled  by  Dr.  Chandler 296 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Kneeland  his  successor  at  Stratford     .         .         .         .297 

Influence  and  labors  of  Mr.  Beach 298 

Clouds  in  the  American  sky 299 


CHAPTER  XXHL 

THE  WAR  OF  THE  REVOLUTION;  AND  THE  ADHERENCE  OF  THE 
CLERGY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND  TO  THE  CAUSE  OF  THE 
CROWN. 

A.  D.  1774-1776. 

Churchmen  the  objects  of  public  suspicion 301 

Arrest  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  and  his  confinement  in  New 

Haven 302 

His  memorial  to  the  General  Assembly,  and  release  ....  303 

Returns  to  Westchester,  and  becomes  a  chaplain  to  a  Loyal  Ameri- 
can Regiment         ..........  305 

Independence  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Peters,  and  a  mob  in  Hebron       .  306 

His  forced  confession,  and  escape  from  the  country   ....  306 


XXIV  CONTENTS. 

pAoa 

The  clergy  drawn  into  embarrassments  and  perils  from  supporting 


the  Crown 


Zeal  of  the  partisans  for  liberty 

Opposition  to  Mr.  ]\Ians6eld,  and  his  flight  to  Long  Island 
The  Laity  for  the  most  part  in  sympathy  with  the  Clergy 
Course  of  Dr.  William  Samuel  Johnson  .... 
Loyalty  among  the  Congregational  ministers     .         .         . 


308 
309 
310 
310 
311 
313 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE     DECLARATION    OF    INDEPENDENCE/     TRIALS     OF     THE     MISSION- 
ARIES   IN    CONNECTICUT  ;    AND    DEATH    OF    MR.    BEACH. 

A.    D.    1776-1781. 

The  Thirteen  Colonies  declared  independent  .....  315 
Oaths  of  allegiance,  taken  at  the  time  of  their  ordination,  involving 

the  clergy  in  new  troubles      ........     315 

Treatment  of  Viets,  Leaming,  and  other  Missionaries  in  Connecticut  316 
Meeting  of  the  clergy  at  New  Haven,  and  resolution  to  suspend  the 

public  exercise  of  their  ministry     .         .         .         .         .         .         .318 

Firmness  of  Mr.  Beach,  and  his  churches  not  closed  ....     319 

Action  of  the  parish  in  Norwich 320 

Troubles  of  Mr.  Graves,  and  his  abandonment  of  his  parish  .  .  321 
Reopening  of  the  churches,  and  use  of  prayers  lor  Congress  and  the 

Independent  States        .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .323 

Visit  of  the  British  forces  under  General  Tryon  to  New  Haven  .     324 

Fairfield  and  Norwalk  burnt  with  their  churches       .         .         .      325-327 
Loss  by  Mr.  Leaming,  and  his  escape  to  New  York  ....     328 

Abuse  of  sacred  edifices,  and  treatment  of  Mr.  Marshall  .  .  .  329 
Death  of  Mr.  Beach,  and  the  memory  of  his  name     ....     331 

CHAPTER   XXV. 

DISCOURAGING  FEATURES  IN  THE  CAUSE  OF  THE  COLONIES  ;  CON- 
NECTICUT THE  THEATRE  OF  FRESH  HORRORS;  CHANGE  IN  THE 
BRITISH   MINISTRY,    AND    TREATY    OF    PEACE. 

A.   D.    1781-1783. 

Leading  patriots  of  the  land  despondent 332 

Washington  mourning  the  lack  of  public  virtue  ....  332 

Depreciation  of  the  currency     ........  333 

Jealousy  among  the  militarj'  officers  .......  334 

Blunders  of  the  British  ministry 336 


CONTENTS.  XXV 

PAGE 

The  clergy  not  willing  to  forfeit  their  stipends  from  the   Society, 


while  the  issue  of  the  contest  was  in  doubt 


Expedition  to  New  London  under  Benedict  Arnold 
The  town  burnt,  with  the  Episcopal  churcli 
Garrison  in  Fort  Griswold  massacred 
Purity  and  piety  of  the  Connecticut  clergy 
Tribute  of  respect  to  their  memory    . 
Negotiations  for  a  genei-al  peace  begun  in  Paris 
Treaty  signed,  and  independence  of  the  Thii-teen  Colonies  acknowl- 
edged   ............     343 


336 
337 
337 
338 
339 
340 
342 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

CONDITION  OF  THE  CHURCH  IN  CONNECTICUT  AT  THE  CLOSE  OF 
THE  war;  MEETING  OF  THE  CLERGY  AT  "WOODBURY,  AND  DR. 
SEABURY  PREVAILED  UPON  TO  GO  TO  ENGLAND  FOR  CONSECRA- 
TION; WITHDRAWAL  OF  MISSIONARIES  AND  LOYALISTS  TO  THE 
BRITISH   PROVINCES. 

A.  D.  1783-1784. 

Gloomy  prospects  for  the  Missionaries       ......     345 

Loss  of  their  stipends  from  the  Society 345 

Number  in  Connecticut  at  the  close  of  the  war  ....     346 

Meeting  at  Woodbury,  to  deliberate  upon  the   affairs  of  the  Church 

and  organize  for  the  future    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .346 

Samuel  Seabury  prevailed  upon  to  go  to  England  for  consecration    .     347 
His  departure    ...........     348 

Letter  of  the  clergy  to  the  Archbishop  of  York  ....     348 

Pamphlet  of  the  Rev.  William  White 349 

Treatment  of  the   Loyalists,    and   their  emigration  to  the   British 

provinces       .         .         .  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .351 

Withdrawal  of  the  clergy  and  portions  of  their  flocks         .         .         .     353 
Misfortunes  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  Inglis         .....     356 

His  elevation  to  the  See  of  Nova  Scotia    .         .         .         .         .         .357 

Testimony  to  the  character  of  the  Refugees  by  the  Bishop  of  Oxford     35  7 


XXVI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

ARRIVAL  OP  SEABURY  IN  LONDON,  AND  IMPEDIMENTS  TO  HIS  CON- 
SECRATION. CONSECRATED  IN  SCOTLAND.  RETURN  TO  CONNECT- 
ICUT;   AND    PRIMARY    CONVENTION    AT    MIDDLETOWN. 

A.  D.  1784-1785. 

PAGE 

Dr.  Seabury  presents  his  testimonials  to  the  English  Bishops     .         .  358 

Objections  to  his  consecration  raised 358 

Correspondence  between  the  bishop  elect  and  the  clergy  of  Connect- 
icut          359 

Reluctance  of  Parliament  to  authorize  the  consecration     .         .        .  360 

Attention  directed  to  the  Scotch  succession 361 

Dr.  Seabury  visits  Scotland,  and  receives  consecration      .         .         .  363 

Returns  to  London,  and  addresses  a  letter  to  the  Venerable  Society  .  365 

Stipends  of  the  Missionaries  cease     .......  366 

Arrival  of  Bishop  Seabury  at  New  London 367 

Convention  at  Middletown,  and  public  reception  by  the  clergy  of 

their  Bishop 368 

Ordination  of  four  candidates  to  the  Diaconate 370 

Sermon  of  Mr.  Leaming  before  the  Convention         .        .        .        .370 

Bishop  Seabury's  First  Charge 371 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  CONVENTIONS  OF  DELEGATES  FROM  SEVERAL 
STATES,  AND  ATTEMPTS  TO  UNITE  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  INDE- 
PENDENT  COLONIES   UNDER   ONE   GENERAL   CONSTITUTION. 

A.  D.   1785-1786. 

Business  of  the  Convention  at  Middletown 373 

Meeting  of  Delegates  from  different  States  at  New  Brunswick  .        .  374 
Meeting  in  New  York,  and  refusal  of  Connecticut  to  join  in  the  meas- 
ures contemplated 374 

Interchange  of  civilities     .        . 376 

Correspondence  between  Drs.  White  and  Smith  and  Bishop  Seabury 

and  Dr.  Chandler -377 

Clergy  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  New  Hampshire  meet 

at  Boston 379 

First  General  Convention  at  Philadelphia 380 

No  representation  from  any  of  the  New-England  States  .  .  .  380 
Adoption  and  publication  of  "The  Proposed  Book"  .  .  .381 
Settlement  of  Bishop  Seabury  at  New  London,  and  rebuilding  of 

the  church 388 


CONTENTS.  XXVU 

PAGE 

Churches  at  Fairfield  and  Norwalk  rebuilt 384 

Erection  of  churches  at  Branford  and  Woodbury       ....     385 
Ordination  at  Derby,  and  disposal  of  the  candidates  ....     386 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

CHANGES  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  COMMON  PRAYER  ;  AND  THEIR  RECEP- 
TION IN  ENGLAND;  CONSECRATION  OF  DRS.  PROVOOST  AND 
WHITE  ;  THE  CHURCH  IN  CONNECTICUT,  AND  CORRESPONDENCE  OP 
BISHOPS  AND   CLERGY. 

A.  D.  1786-1789. 

Communion  Office  set  forth  for  the  use  of  the  Church  in  Connecticut  388 

Reception  of  "  The  Proposed  Book  "  iu  England       ....  389 

Reassemblinn;  of  the  General  Convention  at  Philadelphia  .         .         .  389 
Answer  of  English  Prelates  to  the  application  for  the  Episcopate, 

and  reply  of  the  Convention  ........  390 

Attempts  to  discredit  the  ordinations  of  Dr.  Seabury          .         .         .  392 
Convention  assembles  in  Wilmington,  Delaware,  pursuant  to  adjourn- 
ment        393 

A  second  letter  from  the  English  prelates 393 

Adoption  of  their  suggestions     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .395 

Consecration  of  Drs.  Provoost  and  White  in  the  chapel  of  Lambeth 

Palace,  and  their  return  to  America       ......  396 

Progress  of  the  Church  in  Connecticut       .         .         .         .         .         .397 

Steps  of  her  clergy  to  secure  a  coadjutor  Bishop        ....  399 

Correspondence  between  Bishops  Skinner  and  Seabury    .        .        .  400 

Efforts  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation 402 

Influence  of  Learning  and  Parker 403 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

ELECTION  OF  A  BISHOP  FOR  MASSACHUSETTS  AND  NEW  HAMPSHIRE; 
SIGNS  OF  CHRISTIAN  HARMONY;  GENERAL  CONVENTION  AT  PHIL- 
ADELPHIA ;  COMPLETION  OF  THE  UNION  OF  THE  CHURCH  IN  ALL 
THE   STATES,   AND   ADOPTION   OF   THE   BOOK   OP   COMMON   PRAYER. 

A.  D.  1789-1790. 

Election  of  Rev.  Edward  Bass  to  the  Episcopate        ....  405 
Appeal  to  the  three  Bishops  in  this  country  to  join  in  his  consecra- 
tion         405 

General  Convention  at  Philadelphia,  July,  1 789        ....  406 


Xxviii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Sitrns  of  Christian  harmony,  and  recognition  of  the  validity  of  Bishop 

Seabury's  orders 406 

Death  of  Dr.  Griffith 406 

Action  of  the  Convention  upon  the  case  of  Mr.  Bass  .        .        .        .  407 
Healing  of  the  breach  between  the  two  great  parties          .         .         .  408 
Three  Bishops  in  the  Anglican  line  desired  before  proceeding  to  con- 
secrate    409 

Connecticut  appoints  clerical  delegates  to  the  General  Convention, 

adjourned  to  meet  again  in  September 409 

A  House  of  Bishops  established 411 

Seabury  and  White  In  council 412 

Completion  of  the  general  union,  and  revision  of  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer 413 

Convocation  of  the  clergy  of  Connecticut  confirm  the  doings  of  their 

Proctors 415 

Death  of  Marshall  and  Learning 416 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

INTRODUCTION    OP    THE    LAITY  INTO   THE   COUNCILS   OF  THE  CHURCH; 

COURSE    OF    THE   KEV.    JAMES    SAYRE  ;   AND    CONSECRATION   OF  THE 
FIRST   BISHOP   IN   AMERICA. 

A.  D.  1790-1792. 

Establishment  of  a  College  of  Doctors 418 

Appointment  of  the  first  Standing  Committee 419 

Primary  Convention   of   the   Bishop,    Clergy,   and   Laity   at   New 

Haven 420 

Adoption  of  an  ecclesiastical  constitution  by  the  parishes  .         .         .421 

Protest  of  the  Rev.  James  Sayre 421 

Sympathy  of  the  parish  at  Stratford  with  his  course  ....  422 

Address  of  the  Rev.  John  Bowden 424 

Result  of  the  controversy  with  Mr.  Sayre  .         .        .         .        .         .  425 

The  Rev.  Ashbel  Baldwin  called  to  Stratford,  and  discontent  at 

Woodbury 425 

Peace  throughout  the  Diocese,  and  prosperity  of  the  Church  .  .  427 
Bishop  Seabury  preaches  the  sermon  before  the  General  Convention 

at  New  York 428 

Consecration  in  England  of  the  Rev.  James  Madison,  as  Bishop  of 

Virginia 428 

Consecration  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Claggett,  Bishop  elect  of  Maryland       .  429 

Incomplete  record  of  confirmations    .......  430 

Erection  of  a  new  church  at  Newtown 431 


CONTENTS.  XXIX 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

infidelity;  the  establishment  of  the  episcopal  academy  of 
connecticut;  third  genekal"  convention;  and  death  of 
bishop  seabury. 

A.   D.    1792-1796. 

PAGE 

Infidel  opinions  and  Calvinistic  theology   ......     432 

The  Church  drawing  to  the  old  paths  and  the  good  way    ."         .         .     433 
Foresight  of  Bishop  Seabury     .         .         .         .         .  .         .         .4  33 

Renunciation  of  the  ministry  by  the  Rev.  David  Perry      .         .         .     435 
Establishment  of  the  Episcopal  Academy  at  Cheshire         .         .         .     436 
Third  General  Convention,  and  no  representative  from  Connecticut     436 
"Strictures  on  the  Love  of  Power  in  the  Prelacy"    .         .         .         .437 

Convocation  of  the  clergy  at  East  Plymouth  and  Harwinton      .         .     437 
Consecration  of  churches,  and  ordination  of  Rev.  Mr.  Griswold  .     438 

Forms  of  Prayer  set  forth  for  Courts  and  General  Assembly      .         .438 
Sudden  death  of  Bishop  Seabury       .......     439 

Impress  of  his  character  upon  the  Church  in  Connecticut  .         .         .     439 
Popularity  as  a  man  and  a  preacher .         .         .         .         .         .         .     440 

New  church  at  New  London 440 

Monument  to  his  memoi'y,  and  conclusion 441 

APPENDIX  A. 

Letter  of  Mr.  Cutler  resigning  his  charge  at  Stratford         .         .         .     445 
Extracts  from  the  Records  of  Yale  College 446 


APPENDIX   B. 
Letter  of  Rev.  Dr.  Johnson  to  President  Clap 447 

APPENDIX   C. 

Correspondence  between  the  Standing  Committees  of  Rhode  Island 
and  Connecticut 450 

LIST   OF   SOME   OF   THE   AUTHORS   QUOTED   OR   CONSULTED.  .      453 


HISTORY 


EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  IN  CONNECTICUT. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    SETTLEMENT    OF   NEW    ENGLAND,  AND   THE  RELIGIOUS    LIB- 
ERTY ESTABLISHED  BY  THE  PURITANS. 

A.  D.    1620-1665. 

Upwards  of  a  century  passed  away  after  the  dis- 
covery of  America  by  Christopher  Cokimbus  before 
our  extreme  eastern  shores  were  hned  with  Enghsh 
emigrants.  The  Pilgrims  of  Leyden,  with  an  ecclesi- 
astical organization  formed  before  they  sailed  from 
Delft  Haven,  landed  at  Plymouth  in  December  1620, 
and  eight  years  later  John  Endicott  and  his  company 
began  to  plant  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 
The  resolute  and  honored  Winthrop,  and  those  ^vho 
immediately  followed  him,  took  possession  of  Boston 
and  the  surrounding  country  in  1630.  These  were 
the  earliest  successful  New- England  colonies ;  and 
through  school-books,  tales,  poems,  orations,  com- 
memorative addresses,  and  elaborate  histories,  we  have 
long  been  taught  that  they  were  the  offspring  of  such 
direct  religious  persecution  in  the  mother-country  as 
really  drove  them  from  their  homes.    Those  who  read 


2  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

history  only  as  a  recreation  from  toil,  and  shun  the 
labor  of  collating  the  representations  of  different  au- 
thors, are  quite  ready  to  fall  into  this  belief,  and  to 
float  along  with  the  current  of  popular  feelings  and 
prejudices.  To  speak  the  truth  and  to  contemplate 
■with  calmness  the  ferments  of  an  age  of  revolution, 
ought  not  to  detract  from  a  proper  reverence  for  the 
character  of  our  Puritan  forefathers.  Thousch  we 
know  their  imperfections  and  their  faults,  which  were 
in  a  measure  the  faults  of  the  times  and  of  our  com- 
mon ancestry,  we  may  admire  and  honor  none  the  less 
their  zeal  and  bravery  —  their  earnestness  and  energy 
—  their  faith  and  devotion. 

Dr.  Trumbull  begins  his  "  Complete  History  of  Con- 
necticut, Civil  and  Ecclesiastical,"  with  this  remark- 
able sentence  :  "  The  settlement  of  New  England, 
purely  for  the  purposes  of  religion,  and  the  propaga- 
tion of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  is  an  event  which 
has  no  parallel  in  the  history  of  modern  ages." 

Let  us  cross  the  ocean  and  scatter  ourselves  for  a 
while  in  the  cities  and  among  the  Gothic  churches  of 
the  British  realm.  What  do  we  hear  and  what  do  Ave 
see  ?  We  hear  cold  responses  to  the  prayer  for  "  our 
most  gracious  Sovereign  Lord,  King  James."  We 
hear  the  trumpet  giving  "an  uncertain  sound,"  and 
we  observe  signs  of  popular  discontent  and  evidences 
of  non-conformity  to  the  established  religion  of  the 
land.  Whence  has  this  state  of  things,  this  lack  of 
reverence  for  the  venerable  usages  of  the  Church, 
arisen  ?  If  we  go  back  a  little,  we  shall  discover  that 
it  is  one  of  the  unhappy  and  unintended  results  of  the 
Reformation.  Under  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  the 
Protestants  became  divided  into  two  great  parties,  — 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  3 

those  who  were  in  favor  of  adhering  to  the  Liturgy 
and  ritual  order  adopted  and  estabhshed  in  the  reign 
of  Edward  the  Sixth,  and  those  who  desired  to  carry 
reform  still  farther,  and  to  introduce  a  simpler  and  as 
they  conceived  a  purer  form  of  church  discipline  and 
worship.  The  opponents  of  a  Liturgy  and  of  the 
hierarchy  were  comprehended  under  the  general 
name  of  Pimtans,  —  a  name  which  had  been  applied 
before  to  the  thin  companies  of  English  Protestants  in 
exile  on  the  Continent,  while  the  Bloody  Mary  occu- 
pied the  throne.  Not  separating  as  yet  from  the 
Church  of  England,  they  were  that  party  within  it 
which  accepted  its  doctrines  as  set  forth  in  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles,  because  they  were  truly  Protestant,  — 
but  accepted  them  with  the  right  of  private  interpre- 
tation, taking  them  in  the  pure  Calvinistic  sense,  and 
in  many  cases  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  not  con- 
forming to  the  prescribed  rubrical  ceremonies  and  ob- 
servances. The  Reformation  in  England,  unlike  that 
on  the  Continent,  was  conducted  by  the  authority  of 
government,  and  under  the  direction  of  several  of  the 
most  learned  and  devoted  prelates,  —  so  that  there 
was  no  good  or  assignable  reason  for  any  departure 
from  the  outward  order  of  the  Church.  All  that  was 
intended  to  be  done  was  to  banish  doctrines  contrary 
to  the  Word  of  God,  to  make  the  people  acquainted 
with  the  Scriptures,  to  give  them  a  Liturgy  free  from 
Romish  corruptions,  and  to  remove  from  it  all  idle 
and  unprofitable  ceremonies. 

The  English  Reformers,  therefore,  understanding 
their  work  well, — which  was  to  restore,  not  to  de- 
stroy,— paused  precisely  at  that  point  where  they  be- 
lieved their  high  object  would  be  accomphshed ;  but 


4  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

the  Puritans  were  not  content.  The  more  moderate 
among  them  had  scruples  of  conscience  about  wear- 
ing the  surplice,  the  Episcopal  habits,  and  the  four- 
cornered  hat,  kneeling  at  the  communion,  and  the 
sign  of  the  cross  in  Baptism ;  while  the  more  violent 
went  farther,  and  were  for  imposing  their  own  Gene- 
van scheme  upon  the  whole  nation.  On  this  account, 
and  for  their  continued  disregard  of  the  established 
form  of  Church  government,  Elizabeth  treated  them 
with  great  rigor  during  almost  the  whole  of  her  reign. 
This  only  served  to  alienate  their  affections,  to  ani- 
mate their  zeal,  and  to  push  them  into  more  strenu- 
ous and  decided  opposition  to  the  ceremonials  of  Di- 
vine worship. 

Under  James,  of  the  house  of  Stuart,  who  succeeded 
Elizabeth  in  1603,  their  fortunes  were  not  improved, 
and  they  gained  no  advantages  as  a  reforming  party; 
for  the  king,  though  educated,  in  a  measure,  under 
Presbyterian  influences,  favored  and  maintained  the 
English  Church  as  he  found  it  ordered  and  settled. 
Upon  his  death  in  1625,  his  son  Charles  the  First 
ascended  the  throne,  and  now  his  reign  thickens  with 
events  which  gave  impulse  to  the  colonizing  of  New 
England.  Two  centuries  had  elapsed  since  France 
had  furnished  a  queen-consort  to  Britain ;  but  Charles 
was  no  sooner  crowned  than  he  inaugurated  his  reign 
by  wedding  Henrietta  Maria,  the  beautiful  daughter 
of  Henry  the  Great, — an  alliance  which,  with  all  its 
circumstances,  excited  rather  than  allayed  the  irrita- 
tion of  the  Puritans.  With  a  good  heart,  but  a  weak 
judgment,  he  attempted  to  rule  the  people  more  by 
lis  sovereign  and  absolute  prerogative  than  by  law. 
cle  continued  the  policy  of  his  father  in  Cl\urch  and 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  5 

State,  and  surrounded  himself  with  advisers  who 
watched  narrowly  the  old  controversies,  and  insisted 
upon  a  rigid  obedience  to  the  rubrics  and  canons 
established  under  the  dominion  'of  his  predecessors. 
When  Abbott,  the  archbishop,  sufficiently  mild  and 
moderate  in  his  defence  of  the  Reformed  Church, 
but  exact  in  maintaining  the  prerogatives  of  the  High 
Commission  Court  and  the  Star-Chamber,  was  laid  in 
his  grave,  William  Laud  was  elevated  to  the  Primacy, 
and  he,  it  must  be  confessed,  full  of  zeal,  full  of  energy, 
loved  and  served  the  Church  with  all  his  heart ;  but, 
like  others  of  whom  we  read,  raised  to  important 
positions  in  troublous  and  disastrous  times,  he  had  his 
faults,  and  attempted  the  accomplishment  of  his  de- 
signs with  too  httle  wisdom,  meekness,  or  gentleness. 
Austere  in  all  his  habits,  repulsive  in  his  manners, 
impatient  under  contradiction,  and  arrogant  in  his 
Episcopal  sway,  he  attached  to  himself  no  company 
of  grateful  and  affectionate  adherents,  but  found  his 
enemies  multiplying  on  every  side,  and  ready  to  thrust 
him  into  that  path  the  end  of  which  had  always  been 
the  scaffold.  As  the  principal  and  confidential  ad- 
viser of  Charles  the  First,  he  took  no  pains  to  con- 
ciliate the  Puritans ;  but,  moved  by  his  own  sense 
of  duty  to  the  Church,  reduced  the  services  through- 
out the  realm  to  a  stricter  order,  and  restored  customs 
and  ceremonies  which,  to  say  the  least,  savored  of 
superstition,  or  which  seemed  to  impress  the  "  senti- 
ments of  local  holiness  and  sacramental  efficacy."  He 
was  a  better  man,  however,  than  many  who  have  pur- 
sued him  with  malignity,  and  justified  the  crime  of 
his  execution  by  painting  his  character  in  the  darkest 
and  most  odious  colors. 


6  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

Non-conformity  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  First 
was  so  common  that  those  who  administered  disci- 
plme  were  compelled  to  nse  some  degree  of  severity. 
To  uphold  the  order  of  the  Church  by  the  strength 
of  the  secular  arm,  was  accounted  the  surest  way  to 
enforce  religious  unity ;  and  no  one  appears  to  have 
questioned  the  lawfulness  of  employing  violence  for 
the  attainment  of  that  end.  The  sufferings  of  the 
Puritans  were  the  fruit  of  the  prmciples  of  the  times, 
and  the  very  men  who  complained  of  hard  treatment 
under  Laud  proved  themselves  to  be  greater  perse- 
cutors than  the  Primate  himself  The  spirit  and  lan- 
guage of  conciliation  were  alike  unknown  in  that  day. 
The  barbarities  inflicted  in  1630  upon  Leighton,  and 
subsequently  upon  Prynne  and  Bastwick  and  Burton, 
for  having  published  schismatical  and  seditious  libels, 
are  extraordinary,  and  overwhelm  the  mind  with 
astonishment  and  sorrow.  But  it  was  a  struggle  for 
preeminence,  as  events  afterwards  showed,  rather  than 
for  toleration  ;  and  when  Presbytery  acquired  power, 
its  little  finger  w^ould  have  proved  thicker  than  the 
loins  of  the  bishops,  had  not  the  reins  of  discipline 
been  stoutly  held  by  the  Parliament.  And  so  when 
Prynne,  the  persecuted,  became  a  persecutor,  "  he 
executed  that  hateful  office  with  the  malignity  of  a 
fiend,  entering  the  prison-chamber  of  Laud  whilst  he 
was  in  bed,  searching  the  pockets  of  his  garments, 
and  refusing  to  let  him  have  a  copy  of  his  own  manu- 
scripts, unless  it  were  made  at  his  own  charge."  Neal, 
m  his  "  History  of  New  England,"  says,  "  it  must  be 
allowed  that,  when  the  Puritans  were  in  power,  they 
carried  their  resentments  too  far."  Unwarrantable 
cruelty  in  one  party  is  no  justification  of  it  in  an- 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  7 

other ;  yet  when  men  talk  of  the  sufferings  and  sac- 
rifices and  self-denial  of  the  Puritans,  they  should 
consider  the  spirit  and  principles  of  the  age,  and 
remember  how  those  who  were  thus  persecuted 
turned  persecutors  and  practised  the  rigors  from 
which  they  sought  to  escape.  We  have  the  opiiiion 
of  Bishop  Burnet,  that  the  Church  of  England  was 
milder  in  her  government  than  either  Presbytery  or 
Independency.  "  It  were  as  easy  as  it  would  be  invid- 
ious," says  he,  "  to  show  that  both  Presbyterians  and 
Independents  have  carried  the  principle  of  rigor  in 
the  point  of  conscience  much  higher,  and  have  acted 
more  implacably  upon  it  than  ever  the  Church  of 
England  has  done,  even  in  its  angriest  fits." 

From  this  brief  review  of  an  eventful  period  in 
English  history  it  can  hardly  be  said  that  the  early 
settlement  of  New  England  sprung  from  any  necessity 
to  avoid  direct  religious  persecution  in  the  mother- 
country,  or  from  an  unmixed  motive  to  "propagate 
civil  and  religious  liberty."  "  After  the  fashion  of  op- 
pressed sects,"  are  the  words  of  Macaulay,  "  the  Puri- 
tans mistook  their  own  vindictive  feelings  for  emo- 
tions of  piety ;  encouraged  in  themselves  in  reading 
and  meditation  a  disposition  to  brood  over  their 
wrongs,  and  when  they  had  worked  themselves  up 
into  hating  their  enemies,  imagined  that  they  were 
only  hating  the  enemies  of  Heaven."  Their  griev- 
ances were  great.  Their  sufferings  were  severe 
enough  to  irritate  them,  and  bring  lasting  disgrace  on 
the  government;  but  they  did  not  destroy  life.  Even 
the  Pilgrims  of  Leyden,  who,  separated  from  the 
Church,  and  with  their  future  pastor,  John  Robinson, 
fled  jfrom  the  north  of  England  in  1608,  without  doubt 


8  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

"purely  for  the  purposes  of  religion,"  might  have 
returned  a  few  years  later  and  enjoyed  comparative 
liberty.  For  the  fires  of  Smithfield  had  ceased  to  be 
kindled,  and  there  was  no  burning  at  the  stake  in 
England,  nor  persecution  unto  death  in  any  form  for 
the  sake  of  rehgious  opinions  and  practices,  after 
1611.  The  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  English 
Church  then  were  substantially  what  they  are  now, 
and  the  quarrel  between  the  opposing  parties  was 
more  over  these  than  over  Christian  doctrines.  The 
Protestant  faith  was  struggling  to  maintain  its  life 
without  casting  aside  all  the  good  things  which  Rome 
had  corrupted  and  abused,  and  the  government  was 
enforcing  a  recognition  of  the  religion  which  by  law 
had  been  established. 

America,  at  this  period,  was  attracting  some  of  the 
most  skilful  European  voyagers  to  her  shores.  The 
Spaniards  and  the  Italians  led  the  way  in  the  earliest 
discoveries,  and  the  Dutch  and  the  French  seem  to 
have  taken  advantage  of  the  time,  while  England  was 
absorbed  with  her  religious  disputes,  to  acquire  pos- 
sessions on  this  continent.  But  with  the  patents  and 
charters  granted  by  King  James  to  different  compa- 
nies of  his  subjects,  the  spirit  of  Anglo-Saxon  enter- 
prise was  awakened  and  greatly  increased  in  the 
reign  of  his  unfortunate  son.  Whether  the  plan  of 
colonizing  New  England  originated  with  the  Puritans 
or  with  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  is  an  inquiry  which 
need  not  be  settled  here;  but  it  is  certain  that,  who- 
ever were  the  originators,  the  plan  resulted  as  much 
from  the  commercial  ideas  and  adventurous  spirit  of 
the  age  as  from  religious  impulse.  Perhaps  we  should 
say,  as  the  cautious  Humphrey  did,  that  "  it  ought  to 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  9 

be  owned  to  the  just  honor  of  this  people,  that  the 
first  settlers  who  left  their  native  country,  England, 
appear  to  have  done  it  out  of  a  true  prmciple  of  con- 
science, however  erroneous." 

Preparations  for  the  settlement  of  Connecticut  were 
begun  in  1633,  on  the  banks  of  the  river  which  gives 
name  to  the  State.  Early  in  the  autumn  of  that  year, 
a  company  of  explorers  from  the  Colony  of  Plymouth 
established  a  trading  -  house  at  Windsor,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Tunxis  River,  and  carried  on  a  brisk 
traffic  in  peltry  with  the  native  inhabitants.  Shortly 
before,  the  Dutch  from  Manhattan  had  erected  a  fort 
at  Hartford,  six  miles  below,  and  claimed  possession 
of  the  country  by  the  right  of  being  the  original  dis- 
coverers. They  resisted  with  redoubtable  threats,  and 
some  show  of  siege  and  assault,  the  movements  of 
their  new  neighbors  ;  but  all  attempts  to  dislodge 
them  proved  unavailing,  and  the  English  colonists 
were  soon  left  to  the  occupancy  of  the  soil,  and  to  the 
privilege  of  working  out  their  deliverance  both  from 
the  Indians  and  from  the  rigors  of  a  winter  in  the 
wilderness.  When  their  scheme  of  settlino-  Connecti- 
cut  came  to  be  fully  known  in  the  Old  Colony,  it  met 
with  strong  opposition,  and  permission  to  remove 
thither  with  their  families  was  only  granted  after  a 
warm  debate  in  the  General  Court.  In  1635,  John 
Winthrop,  son  of  Governor  Winthrop  of  Massachusetts, 
but  a  more  accomplished  and  amiable  man,  arrived  at 
Boston,  with  a  commission  from  sundry  noblemen  and 
gentlemen  interested  in  the  Connecticut  patent,  and 
proceeded,  according  to  his  instructions,  to  erect  forti- 
fications, buUd  houses,  and  make  a  settlement  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river. 


10  HISTORY   OF   TflE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

In  the  spring  of  1638,  John  Davenport  and  his  as- 
sociates —  who  had  wintered  at  Boston,  waitmg  there, 
to  use  his  o^vn  words,  for  "the  eye  of  God's  Provi- 
dence "  to  "  guide  us  to  a  place  convenient  for  our 
famihes  and  for  our  friends,"  and  resisting  the  induce- 
ments offered  them  to  remain  in  Massachusetts  and 
blend  their  influence  and  their  wealth  with  the  earlier 
emigrants  —  anchored  their  ships  in  Quinnipiack  har- 
bor, and  began  the  settlement  of  the  Colony  of  New 
Haven.  Thus  there  were  two  jurisdictions  or  colonies 
in  what  constitute  the  present  limits  of  Connecticut, 
with  separate  governors  and  councils;  and  this  state 
of  things  continued  until  1665,  when  New  Haven  was 
put  under  the  broad  and  liberal  charter  granted  to 
Connecticut  by  Charles  the  Second,  and  Winthrop  the 
younger  became  Governor  of  the  united  colonies. 

In  all  this  time  there  is  no  evidence  that  Episcopacy 
was  anywhere  tolerated,  or  that  it  had  any  earnest 
friends  in  Connecticut  to  vindicate  its  claims.  If 
here  and  there  one  was  bold  enough  to  avow  his  pref- 
erence for  the  Ritual  of  the  Church,  he  was  made  so 
uncomfortable  by  it  that  he  soon  modified  his  opinion 
or  sought  a  more  quiet  residence.  William  Pitkin 
and  six  others,  signing  themselves  "  professors  of  the 
Protestant  Christian  Religion,  members  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  subjects  to  our  Sovereign  Lord, 
Charles  the  Second,  by  God's  grace  King  of  England," 
did  indeed  address  the  General  Assembly  at  the  Octo- 
ber session  in  1664,  "  declaring  their  aggricvances," 
and  "petitioning  for  a  redress  of  the  same."  Their 
grievances  were,  that  they  were  not  under  the  care 
of  those  who  "administered  in  a  due  manner"  the 
sacraments  of  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper;  that 


IN   CONNECTICUT  11 

they  "were  as  sheep  scattered,  having  no  shepherd"; 
and  they  asked  for  the  estabhshment  of  "  some  whole- 
some law,"  by  virtue  of  which  they  might  both  claim 
and  receive  their  privileges ;  and  "  furthermore  they 
humbly  requested,  that  for  the  future  no  law  might  be 
of  any  force  to  make  them  pay  or  contribute  to  the 
maintenance  of  any  minister  or  officer  in  the  Church 
that  will  neglect  or  refuse  to  baptize  their  children,  and 
take  care  of  them"  as  church-members.  The  action 
which  followed  this  humble  petition  was  simply  a  rec- 
ommendation to  the  ministers  and  churches  in  the 
colony,  "  to  consider  whether  it  be  not  their  duty  to 
entertain  all  such  persons,  who  are  of  an  honest  and  god- 
ly conversation,  having  a  competency  of  knovvdedge  in 
the  principles  of  religion,"  —  entertain  meaning  in  this 
place  to  receive  into  church-fellowship  and  treat  ac- 
cordingly. The  recommendation — which  was  ordered 
by  the  Court  to  be  sent  to  the  several  ministers  and 
churches  in  the  colony  —  added,  "that  all  the  children 
of  the  Church  be  accepted  and  accounted  real  mem- 
bers," "  and  that  the  Church  exercise  a  due  Christian 
care  and  watch  over  them ;  and  that,  when  they  are 
grown  up,  being  examined  by  the  officer  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  church,"  and  it  appears,  in  the  judgment 
of  charity,  they  are  duly  qualified  to  participate  in  that 
great  ordinance  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  by  their  being 
able  to  examine  themselves  and  to  discern  the  Lord's 
body,  such  persons  be  admitted  to  full  communion. 

Church  and  State  were  as  closely  united  here,  at 
that  period,  as  ever  they  were  in  England.  The 
ecclesiastical  and  civil  powers  were  blended  together, 
and  liberty  of  conscience  and  the  theory  of  human 
rights   existed  more  in  name  than  in  reality.     The 


12  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

people  were  compelled  to  support  the  Congregational 
order,  which  was  the  order  of  faith  established  by  the 
civil  government.  Nor  was  this  all.  None  had  hb- 
erty  to  worship  publicly  in  any  other  way,  nor  could 
men  vote  or  hold  any  civil  office,  except  in  the  orig- 
inal Colony  of  Connecticut,  unless  they  were  members 
of  some  Congregational  church.  The  settlement  of 
New  Haven  was  eminently  a  commercial  project,  and 
Theophilus  Eaton,  the  first  governor  of  it,  had  been, 
as  Cotton  Mather  calls  him,  "a  merchant  of  great 
credit  and  fashion  in  the  city  of  London."  He  had 
been,  too,  the  early  friend  and  parishioner  of  John 
Davenport,  who,  before  his  emigration  to  this  country, 
was  Vicar  of  St.  Stephen's  Church,  Coleman  Street, 
London.  The  first  planters  of  New  Haven  set  up  for 
independence,  and  recognized  no  human  authority 
apart  from  themselves.  They  appear  to  have  been 
very  careful  to  avoid  any  mention  of  their  native 
land,  or  any  allusion  to  the  question  of  allegiance  to 
the  King.  Davenport,  an  Oxford  divine,  who  must 
be  regarded  as  the  light  that  guided  them  in  their 
religious  organization,  threw  off  all  the  liturgical 
forms  to  which  in  his  youth  he  had  been  accus- 
tomed, and 

"  in  Newmjiii's  barn  laid  down 
Scripture  foundations  for  the  town." 

About  the  same  time  his  brother  Christopher,  with 
a  like  temperament,  also  deserted  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, but  travelled  in  an  opposite  direction,  and  did 
not  stop  until  he  reached  Rome,  gave  in  his  allegiance 
to  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope,  and  became  a  high 
official  in  the  Romish  communion. 

After  the  independent  jurisdiction  of  New  Haven 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  13 

had  been  extinguished  by  incorporating  the  colony 
with  Connecticut,  John  Davenport  accepted  an  invi- 
tation to  remove  to  Boston,  and  he  was  the  more 
wilhng  to  accept  it,  because  the  practice  of  restrict- 
ing the  right  of  suffrage  to  church-members,  for  which 
he  had  honestly  contended,  was  henceforth  to  be  given 
uj)  for  the  broader  practice  which  had  always  obtained 
in  the  older  colony. 

It  helped  to  strengthen  the  Puritan  policy  in  New 
England,  that  events  m  the  mother-country  had  led 
to  the  dethronement  and  execution  of  Charles  the 
First,  and  to  the  overturn  of  the  government  both 
in  Church  and  State.  The  removal  of  Episcopacy 
and  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  opened  a  floodgate 
through  which  errors  and  heresies  of  the  wildest  kind 
rushed  in  and  overspread  the  land.  More  unlucky 
prophets  never  existed  than  the  preachers  of  war  and 
rebellion  in  the  time  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  and  a  more 
complete  system  of  tyranny  never  was  set  up  than 
that  which  drove  the  Episcopal  clergy  from  their  liv- 
ings, and  forbade  the  people,  who  still  remembered  their 
cherished  customs,  even  to  keep  with  religious  wor- 
ship that  "  day  of  days  "  in  the  Calendar,  the  festival 
of  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord.  So  wearied  had  the 
people  become  of  these  and  other  like  things,  and  so 
little  reason  had  the  nation  at  large  to  be  satisfied 
with  that  novel  form  of  government  imposed  by  the 
regicides,  that,  upon  the  death  of  the  Protector,  the 
Presbyterians  themselves  were  quite  ready  to  accept 
the  restoration  of  Charles  the  Second,  and  the  reestab- 
lishment  of  the  ancient  monarchy. 

It  is  natural  for  the  child  to  nnitate  the  parent  and 
espouse  the  family  interests.     Though  remote  from 


14  HISTORY  OF   THE   EriSCOPAL   CHURCH 

all  the  convulsions  and  intolerances  of  the  home  gov- 
ernment, the  New-England  Colonies  felt  their  influ- 
ence, and  shaped  their  policy  with  a  view  to  perpet- 
uate rigid  and  severe  discipline.  They  noted  and 
punished  departures  from  the  estabhshed  order  of 
religion,  and  few  were  the  favors  and  tender  mercies 
shown  in  Massachusetts  to  the  Baptists  and  the  Quak- 
ers. "  AVhen  the  first  New-England  league  Avas  formed, 
in  1643,  for  better  protection  against  savage  warfare, 
the  delegates  of  Maine  were  excluded  because  they 
were  Churchmen,  and  those  of  Rhode  Island,  because 
they  were  Baptists."  -^ 

Such  was  the  clamor  raised  not  only  in  America, 
but  Europe,  against  the  government  of  Massachusetts, 
for  cruel  treatment  of  the  Quakers,  that  the  mag- 
istrates were  led  to  publish  a  declaration  in  defence 
of  their  conduct.  Four  of  those  unhappy  religionists 
suffered  death  by  virtue  of  the  law  of  the  Colony,  — 
two  of  them  on  the  27th  of  October  1659 ;  and  Neal, 
the  faithful  historian  of  the  Puritans,  is  free  to  confess 
that  "  these  executions  raised  a  great  clamor  against 
the  government,  and  sullied  the  glory  of  their  former 
sufferings  from  the  bishops ;  for  now  it  appeared  that 
the  Neiv-England  Puritans  were  no  better  friends  to 
liberty  of  conscience  than  their  adversaries,  and  that 
the  question  between  them  was  not,  whether  one 
party  of  Christians  should  have  power  to  oppress  an- 
other, but  who  should  have  that  power.  Great  num- 
bers of  the  common  people  were  offended  at  these 
proceedings,  as  well  as  the  generaUty  of  sober  persons 
in  the  several  nations  of  Europe,  which,"  he  goes  on 
to  say,  "obliged  the  magistrates  to  pubUsh  to   the 

1  Poor's  English  Civilization  in  America,  p.  61. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  15 

world  their  OAvn  vindication,"  ^  and  whicli  he  gives  at 
length,  showing  that  they  were  still  resolved  to  con- 
tinue the  law  in  force,  and  two  of  the  four  executions 
mentioned  above  (one  that  of  a  Avoman)  followed 
quickly  upon  the  utterance  of  their  public  apology. 

But  as  the  Church  in  England  revived  with  the 
monarchy,  so  here  there  was  a  revival  of  affection  in 
the  hearts  of  some  for  the  ancient  forms  of  faith, 
as  well  as  an  outspoken  sense  of  the  justice  which 
belonged  to  them,  after  the  restoration  of  the  Royal 
family  in  1660.  The  ministers  who  came  over  to 
this  country  with  the  earliest  emigrants  had  re- 
ceived Episcopal  ordination,  and,  as  they  passed  to 
their  final  reward,  their  places  were  supplied  in  a 
way  which  must  have  excited  doubt  in  the  minds  of 
those  who  had  a  spark  of  reverence  for  the  past,  or 
any  lingering  recollection  of  the  formula,  "It  is  evi- 
dent unto  all  men,  diligently  reading  Holy  Scri]3ture 
and  ancient  authors,  that  from  the  Apostles'  time 
there  have  been  three  orders  of  ministers  in  Christ'? 
Church,  —  Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons." 

1  Neal's  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  I.  p.  329. 


16  HISTORY  OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 


CHAPTER  n. 

COMMISSIONEES  OF   CHARLES   THE  SECOND;  AND  ORIGIN  OF  EPIS- 
COPACY IN  CONNECTICUT. 

A.  D.  1665-1722. 

When  the  Commissioners  of  Charles  the  Second 
visited  Connecticut  in  1665,  they  carried  back  a  re- 
port that  the  colony  "will  not  hinder  any  from  en- 
joying the  Sacraments  and  using  the  Common  Prayer 
Book,  provided  they  hinder  not  the  maintenance  of 
the  public  minister."  But  the  Commissioners  could 
not  have  meant  by  this  statement  that  there  was 
any  legal  provision  for  such  liberty.  They  probably 
received  private  assurances,  that,  whenever  any  in 
the  colony  should  desire  to  adopt  in  their  worship 
the  ritual  and  doctrines  of  the  English  Church,  they 
would  not  be  disturbed,  and  that  the  laws  would  be 
changed  in  conformity  with  such  desire.  For  there 
was  no  letting  up  of  the  Puritan  rigor,  no  relaxation 
of  the  rule  that  none  should  have  liberty  to  worship 
God  publicly  except  after  the  order  of  religion  estab- 
lished by  the  civil  government,  until  1708.  In  that 
year  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut  passed 
what  was  called  the  "Act  of  Toleration,"  by  which 
all  persons  who  soberly  dissented  from  the  worship 
and  ministry  by  law  established, — that  is,  the  Congre- 
gational order, — were  permitted  to  enjoy  the  same 
liberty  of  conscience  with  the  Dissenters  in  England 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  17 

under  the  act  of  William  and  Mary.  That  act  ex- 
empted Dissenters  from  punishment  for  non-conform- 
ity to  the  established  Church,  but  did  not  exempt 
them  from  taxation  for  its  maintenance.  And  so,  by 
appearing  before  the  County  Court,  and  there  in  legal 
forms  declaring  their  "  sober  dissent,"  any  persons  in 
the  Colony  of  Connecticut  could  obtain  permission 
to  have  public  worship  in  their  own  way;  but  they 
were  still  obliged  to  pay  for  the  support  of  the  Con- 
gregational churches  in  the  place  of  their  respective 
residences. 

This  little  relaxation  of  Puritan  rigor  must  have 
been  prompted  by  a  growing  feeling  of  uneasiness 
in  the  colony.  As  early  as  1690,  some  half  a  cen- 
tury after  the  settlement  of  the  place,  "  a  considerable 
number  of  freeholders,  inhabitants  of  the  town  of 
Stratford,  professors  of  the  faith  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, desired  to  worship  God  in  the  way  of  their  fore- 
fathers." The  communication  between  this  and  the 
mother- country  had  become  so  frequent  that  mer- 
chants and  traders,  as  well  as  artisans  and  planters, 
were  invited  hither  by  the  promise  of  rich  gains,  and 
of  these  adventurers  the  Church  of  England  had  a  fair 
proportion  of  representatives  in  Stratford,  then  a  town 
embracing  a  large  section  of  the  present  County  of 
Fairfield.  They  must  have  fed  their  faith  and  kept 
alive  their  churchmanship  by  private  reading  and  a 
private  use  of  the  Liturgy,  for  they  had  no  mmister 
to  whom  they  might  flee  for  counsel  and  direction. 

The  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in 
Foreign  Parts  was  chartered  in  England,  June  16th, 
1701,  and  among  its  first  acts  was  that  of  sending  to 
this  and  other  British  colonies  on  the  American  con- 

2 


18  HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

tinent  a  Missionary,  to  itinerate  and  make  personal 
observations.  The  individual  selected  for  this  pur- 
pose was  George  Keith,  a  Scotchman  by  birth,  who 
for  twenty-eight  years  was  a  distinguished  light  among 
the  Quakers.  He  proclauned  and  defended  their  tenets 
in  East  Jersey  and  Philadelphia,  and,  according  to  his 
own  account,  "  the  burden  of  the  Word  of  the  Lord 
came  upon  him  on  the  twenty-first  day  of  the  fourth 
month,  1688,  in  the  town  of  Boston,  in  New  England," 
and  he  there  "  boldly  threw  down  the  gauntlet,  and 
challenged  to  theological  combat  the  chosen  cham- 
pions of  Puritanism."  Appearing  again  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, he  commenced  his  famous  dispute  with  the 
Quakers,  which  ended  in  his  separation  from  them, 
and  in  twenty-eight  of  their  leading  members  issuing 
against  him  what  they  called  "A  Testimony  of  Dis- 
ownment,"  —  a  testimony  confirmed  by  the  Yearly 
Meeting  of  their  brethren  in  London.  In  1694  he 
went  to  England,  and  subsequently  received  Holy 
Orders  in  the  established  Church.  The  Society  sent 
him  back  to  this  country,  in  company  with  Mr.  Patrick 
Gordon,  who  was  to  be  the  Missionary  for  Long  Isl- 
and. Mr.  Gordon  died,  of  a  "violent  fever,"  a  few 
weeks  after  his  arrival,  and  then  Mr.  Keith  had  for 
his  assistant  and  associate  in  missionary  travels  and 
services  the  Rev.  John  Talbot,  chaplain  of  the  ship 
in  which  they  came  over  to  America.  The  journal 
of  the  Missionary  proves  the  extent  of  their  labors, 
and  the  reception  which  they  met  with  in  different 
places.  The  only  town  in  Connecticut  mentioned 
as  having  been  visited  by  them  was  New  London, 
where  they  passed  a  Sunday;  and  both  of  them 
preached,  being  invited  to  do  so  by  Mr.  Gurdon  Sal- 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  19 

tonstall,  then  the  Congregational  minister  in  that 
place,  and  afterwards  the  Governor  of  the  colony. 
He  "civilly  entertained  them  at  his  house,  and  ex- 
pressed his  good  affection  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land." In  general,  they  reported  of  Connecticut  that 
it  contained  "thirty  thousand  souls,  [in]  about  thirty- 
three  towns,  all  Dissenters,  supplied  with  ministers 
and  schools  of  their  own  persuasion." 

But  the  introduction  of  Episcopacy  into  Connecti- 
cut stands  closely  connected  with  the  name  of  a  dis- 
tinguished layman,  the  Hon.  Caleb  Heathcote,  —  a 
Christian  gentleman,  loving  most  warmly  the  Church 
and  sustaining  high  and  unportant  responsibilities  in 
"the  New  York  government."  As  early  as  1702  an 
application  had  been  made  to  the  Bishop  of  London 
for  a  Missionary  at  Stratford,  but  it  met  with  no  suc- 
cess ;  and  three  years  later,  when  the  town  was  desti- 
tute of  any  minister,  the  members  of  the  Church  of 
England  applied  to  the  Rev.  William  Yesey,  Rector 
of  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  and  desired  him  in  vain 
to  visit  them  in  his  official  capacity.  Both  these  ap- 
plications must  have  been  prompted  by  Col.  Heath- 
cote ;  for,  writmg  in  1705  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  of  which 
he  was  now  a  member,  he  says :  "  My  principles  and 
natural  temper  lead  me  to  do  the  Church  all  the  ser- 
vice I  can  everywhere ;  but  I  dare  not  promise  for 
more  than  this  County  at  present,  and  my  best  en- 
deavors  in   the  westernmost   towns   in    Connecticut 

Colony,  when  the  Church  is  well  rooted  here 

As  for  Boston  Colony,  I  never  w^as  in  it,  so  can  say 
little  about  it.  But  as  for  Connecticut,  I  am  and  have 
been  pretty  conversant  with  it,  and  always  was  as 
much  in  all  their  good  graces  as  any  man." 


20  HISTORY  OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

But  after  the  charter  of  the  Propagation  Society 
was  pubUcly  kno^vn,  and  after  Keith  and  Talipot  hod 
itinerated  through  the  land,  the  people  seemed  to 
awake  from  their  lethargy,  and  great  numbers  of  the 
inhabitants  in  different  colonies  began  to  contend 
zealously  which  should  be  first  supplied  with  min- 
isters of  the  Church.  Frequent  and  earnest  letters 
went  over  to  the  Society  from  time  to  time,  —  the 
funds  of  which  were  insufficient  to  respond  favorably 
to  one  half  the  appeals  for  aid  which  they  contained. 

The  Rev.  George  Muirson  was  ordained  by  the 
Bishop  of  London  in  1705,  and  sent  over  as  a  Mis- 
sionary to  the  church  at  Rye,  —  a  good  point  in  West 
Chester  County  from  which  to  act  upon  this  colony, 
and  originally  included  within  its  jurisdiction.  Rye 
was  annexed  to  the  Province  of  New  York  in  1683 ; 
but  the  lines  between  the  two  colonies,  as  they  now 
exist,  were  not  established  until  nearly  half  a  century 
had  elapsed.  Some  of  the  Connecticut  people  living 
near  attended  the  services  of  Mr.  Muirson,  and  thus 
he  became  acquainted  with  their  feelings  and  inclina- 
tions. In  the  summer  of  1706,  after  the  drooping 
prospects  of  his  own  parish,  by  the  Divine  blessing, 
had  revived,  he  and  Colonel  Heathcote  set  out  upon  a 
journey  to  explore  the  shore  towns  from  Greenwich 
to  Stratford.  They  rode  into  the  latter  village,  —  the 
Colonel  "  fully  armed,"  —  and  finding  a  suitable  place 
for  worship,  Mr.  Muirson,  though  threatened  "with 
prison  and  hard  usage,"  "  preached  to  a  very  numer- 
ous congregation,  and  baptized  about  twenty-four, 
mostly  grown  people."  Upon  a  repetition  of  the  visit 
a  few  months  later,  their  entrance  was  disputed  and 
their  object  opposed.    Each  subsequent  visit  appeared 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  21 

to  increase  the  popular  hostility;  for  the  settlers, 
though  many  of  them  were  born  and  nurtured  in  the 
Church  of  England,  had  long  been  taught  to  look 
upon  her  as  the  Nazareth  out  of  which  no  good  thing 
could  come.  Hence  all  favor  shown  to  her  worship 
and  missionaries,  and  all  participation  in  her  ordi- 
nances, were  denounced,  and  the  handful  of  church- 
men were  greatly  misused  and  persecuted,  and  subse- 
quently "distresses"  were  levied  upon  their  estates 
to  support  the  ministry  and  religion  encouraged  and 
legalized  by  the  Provincial  Government.  But  the 
churchmen  did  not  despond.  "A  member  of  the 
council  standmg  himself  in  the  highway  "  on  Sunday, 
and  inciting  and  empowering  several  others  to  forbid 
persons  to  go  to  the  Episcopal  assembUes  or  church, 
and  "  threatening  them  with  a  fine  of  five  pounds " 
each  if  they  did,  neither  broke  up  the  congregations 
nor  lessened  the  number  of  baptisms.  A  spirit  of 
mquiry  was  excited  which  could  not  be  allayed.  It 
reached  out  to  other  towns,  and  soon  there  were  fami- 
lies in  Fairfield,  and  back  upon  the  hill-sides  of  the 
interior,  wliich  w^elcomed  the  sound  of  the  pure  and 
fervent  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  Con- 
gregational Society  in  Stratford  was  rocked  to  its 
very  centre  by  the  same  spirit;  for  Mr.  Reed,  the 
minister,  was  so  far  from  being  horrified  by  Episco- 
pacy that  he  early  manifested  a  friendship  for  her 
doctrines  and  w^orship,  and  expressed  a  willingness  to 
receive  Holy  Orders,  if  provision,  in  the  mean  time, 
could  be  made  for  himself  and  his  family.  Colonel 
Heathcote,  writing  to  the  Society,  thus  speaks  of  him : 
"I  acquainted  you  in  my  former  letter  that  there 
was  a  very  ingenious  gentleman  at  Stratford,  one  Mr. 


22  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

Reed,  the  minister  of  that  place,  who  is  very  inclin- 
able to  come  over  to  the  Church ;  and  if  the  charge 
can  be  dispensed  with,  he  is  well  worth  the  gaining, 
being  by  much  the  most  ingenious  man  they  have 
amongst  them,  and  would  be  very  capable  to  serve 
the  Church.  By  reason  of  the  good  incHnation  he 
shows  for  the  Church,  he  has  undergone  persecution 
by  his  people,  who  do  all  which  is  in  their  power  to 
starve  him,  and,  being  countenanced  and  encouraged 
therein  by  all  the  mmisters  round  them,  they  have 
very  near  effected  it,  so  that  if  any  proposal  could  be 
made  to  encourage  his  coming  over  for  ordination,  his 
family,  which  is  pretty  large,  must  be  taken  care  of 
in  his  absence."  His  pastoral  relations  in  Stratford 
involved  him  in  much  trouble,  and  a  council  of  neigh- 
boring elders  was  convened  to  consider  "  the  wrongs 
of  which  he  complained."  It  appears  from  the  records 
of  the  town,  that  m  their  advice  they  "  recommended 
the  people  to  take  all  suitable  care  to  purge  and  vin- 
dicate Mr.  Reed  from  scurrilous  and  abusive  reflec- 
tions." For  some  reason,  not  now  known,  he  never 
went  to  England  for  Holy  Orders;  but  he  lost  his 
living  among  the  Congregationalists  at  Stratford,  and 
was  obliged  to  leave ;  and  they  endeavored  to  repair 
the  mischief  which  had  been  done,  and  to  weaken  or 
destroy  the  increasing  interest  in  favor  of  Episcopacy, 
by  calling  to  their  oversight,  in  1709,  the  Rev.  Timo- 
thy Cutler, "  who  lived  then  at  Boston  or  Cambridge," 
and  was  "one  of  the  best  preachers  both  colonies 
afforded."  He  ministered  among  them  for  ten  years, 
when  his  learning  and  popularity  gained  for  him  the 
appointment  of  Rector  of  Yale  College,  and  a  town- 
meeting  was  warned  to  consider   the    order  of  the 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  23 

Trustees  for  his  removal  to  "  the  great  work  "  of  con- 
ducting that  Institution.  The  people  "passively" 
submitted  to  what  they  called  "  the  overruling  Provi- 
dence of  God,"  and  acquiesced  in  the  removal  of  Mr. 
Cutler  for  the  sake  of  peace,  upon  condition  that  he 
"  returned  the  house  and  home  lot  which  he  received 
of  the  town,"  and  provided  that  they  were  allowed 
"  one  hundred  pounds  money  for  and  towards  the 
charge  of  settling  another  minister  amongst  them."  ^ 

The  churchmen  of  Stratford  were  organized  into  a 
parish,  with  Wardens  and  Vestrymen,  at  the  visit  of 
Mr.  Muirson,  in  April  1707.  Besides  being  attended 
by  the  distinguished  Christian  gentleman  before  men- 
tioned, he  was  on  one  occasion  accompanied  by  the 
Rev.  Evan  Evans,  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  in  Phil- 
adelphia, who  was  with  him  when  he  baptized  some 
children  at  a  private  house  in  Fairfield,  and  witnessed 
there  and  in  Stratford  the  course  pursued  by  the  min- 
isters and  magistrates  of  the  colony  to  prevent  the 
introduction  of  Episcopacy.  He  witnessed  also  the 
prudence  and  discretion,  the  good  temper  and  Chris- 
tian moderation  of  Mr.  Muirson,  and  visiting  England 
soon  after,  and  knowing  the  hearty  desires  of  the 
churchmen  of  Stratford  that  he  might  be  located 
among  them,  and  even  being  charged  with  such  a 
petition,  he  interceded  with  the  Society  for  the  Prop- 
agation of  the  Gospel  to  secure  his  appointment  as  a 
Missionary  to  that  place.  But  Muirson  died  in  Octo- 
ber 1708,  too  soon  to  hear  of  his  transfer,  if  not  too 
soon  for  the  Church  in  Connecticut.  He  was  a^man 
to  be  admired  for  his  many  excellent  and  Christian 
qualities.     When  the  people  at  Norwalk  and  Fairfield 

^  Appendix  A. 


24  HISTORY  OF  THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

were  ready  to  break  open  the  meeting-house  doors  to 
let  hun  m,  he  would  not  permit  the  violence.  He 
drew  the  picture  of  himself  when  he  wrote  thus  to 
the  Society,  nine  months  before  his  untimely  death: 
"  Gentleness  and  sweetness  of  temper  is  the  readiest 
way  to  engage  the  affections  of  the  people ;  and 
charity  to  those  who  differ  from  us  in  opinion  is  the 
most  likely  to  convince  them  that  our  labors  are  in- 
tended for  the  welfare  of  their  souls ;  whereas  pas- 
sionate and  rash  methods  of  proceeding  will  fill  their 
minds  with  prejudices  against  both  our  persons  and 
our  principles,  and  utterly  indispose  them  against  all 
the  means  we  can  make  use  of  to  reclaim  them  from 
their  errors." 

The  parish,  with  about  thirty  communicants  and  a 
respectable  number  of  families,  was  now  left  to  the 
occasional  services  of  missionaries  who  chanced  to 
visit  this  and  the  neighboring  towns.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Talbot  of  New  Jersey,  the  Rev.  Christopher  Bridges, 
stationed  at  Rye,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Sharpe,  are  re- 
corded as  coming  from  time  to  time  to  minister  to 
the  peojDle  and  encourage  them  to  persevere  in  the 
midst  of  their  vexations  and  trials.  Colonel  Heath- 
cote  still  continued  his  watchftd  interest,  and  accom- 
panied, in  January  1710,  Mr.  Sharpe,  who  spent  "near 
a  month  "  preaching  from  house  to  house  and  baptiz- 
ing many,  "  amongst  whom  was  an  aged  man,  said  to 
be  the  first  [white]  man-child  born  in  Connecticut." 
The  Wardens  and  Vestrj^men,  who,  before  the  death 
of  Mr.  Muirson,  had  resolved  on  building  a  church,  ear- 
nestly appealed  to  the  Society  at  home  to  be  remem- 
bered in  their  deplorable  destitution.  They  stated 
that,  until  the  12th  day  of  December  1709,  they  had 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  25 

received  no  persecution  —  but  that  of  the  tongue. 
Now  came  the  operation  of  the  law  recently  passed 
by  the  General  Assembly,  relaxing  the  rigor  of  Puri-  ,^ 
tan  rule ;  and  then  followed  the  levy  by  distress  upon  ' 
their  estates,  the  seizure  and  unprisonment  of  their 
persons,  and,  what  was  meaner  than  all,  the  combi- 
nation not  to  patronize  those  churchmen  who  were 
dependent  for  support  upon  their  trades  and  employ- 
ments. But  they  were  not  to  be  crushed  out  in  this 
way.  They  held  together,  and  empowered  one  of 
their  number  to  go  before  the  General  Court  assem- 
bled at  Hartford,  and  ask  for  a  redress  of  their  griev- 
ances, and  for  the  adoption  of  some  measures  by 
which  they  might  have  peace  for  the  future.  But 
the  attorney — William  Jeanes  —  accomplished  noth- 
ing by  his  efforts;  for  the  General  Court  w^ell  knew 
that  if  the  case  of  Stratford  was  decided  in  favor  of 
the  Church  of  England,  there  woidd  soon  be  similar 
petitions  coming  from  other  towns. 

The  attempt  has  sometimes  been  made  to  depre- 
ciate the  character  of  these  men,  or  to  speak  in  dis- 
paragement of  them,  as  if  they  were  insignificant 
tradesmen  and  mechanics.  But  they  certamly  showed 
good  qualities  of  head  and  heart.  Though  poor  in 
this  world's  goods,  they  were  rich  in  faith.  They 
were  men  who  bore  their  trials  and  grievances  nobly, 
and  took  especial  pains  to  recommend  their  creed  by 
pious  and  blameless  Hves ;  for  Governor  Hunter  of 
New  York,  in  a  letter  written  in  1711,  after  a  visit  to 
Connecticut,  described  the  churchmen  of  Stratford  as 
"  appearing  very  much  in  earnest,  and  the  best  set  of 
men  he  met  with  in  that  country." 

In  a  brief  address,  about  the  same  time,  to  Queen 


26  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

Anne,  the  Vestry  alluded  in  modest  terms  to  their 
many  trials  and  troubles,  and  then  meekly  added,  — 
"  The  Avant  of  a  minister  is  the  greatest  of  our  afflic- 
tions." That  want  was  shortly  to  be  supplied ;  for 
just  before  Christmas  in  1712,  the  Rev.  Francis  Phil- 
ips arrived  among  them,  having  been  sent  out  by  the 
Propagation  Society  as  a  Missionary  in  charge  of  this 
station.  The  members  were  greatly  encouraged  by 
his  appearance,  and  "  the  masters  of  considerable  fam- 
ilies" were  on  the  point  of  withdrawing  from  the 
ConsTreorationalists  and  unitino;  with  the  Church  of 
England,  when,  lo !  the  Missionary  proved  unfit  for 
his  position,  and  the  brightest  hopes  again  vanished. 
"As  to  Mr.  Philips,"  says  Colonel  Heathcote,  "the 
Society  made  a  wrong  choice  in  him ;  for  that  Mis- 
sionary being  of  a  temper  very  contrary  to  be  pleased 
with  such  conversation  and  way  of  hving  as  Stratford 
affords,  had.no  sooner  seen  that  place  but  his  thoughts 
were  bent  and  employed  how  he  should  get  from  it." 
He  spent  much  of  his  time  in  New  York,  and  "  the 
greatest  thing  the  people  had  to  charge  him  with,  as 
touching  his  behavior  whilst  among  them,  was  the 
neglect  of  his  orders  and  commission."  This  certainly 
was  enough.  He  left  them  abruptly  in  the  midsum- 
mer of  1713,  in  a  condition  worse  than  he  found 
them,  —  "a  scorn  and  reproach  to  their  enemies,"  — 
but  stiU  not  quite  disheartened. 

Francis  Philips  yet  lives  in  the  person  of  many  a 
clergyman  who  succeeds  a  good  and  judicious  Rector 
in  a  well-ordered  parish,  but  begins  his  ministrations 
by  tilling  the  field  in  his  own  novel  way,  and  with  his 
plough  turned  backward. 

Again  the  churchmen  of  Stratford  were  dependent 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  27 

for  occasional  services  upon  the  neighboring  mission- 
aries, and  again  the  appeals  went  over  to  the  Society 
for  another  minister.  They  wrote  in  April  1714,  that 
they  had  felled  the  timber  with  which  to  erect  an  edi- 
fice, and  expressed  the  hope  that  it  might  be  "  raised 
in  three  months'  time  "  ;  but  the  hope  was  not  reahzed. 
Four  years  later,  we  find  them  bemoaning  to  the 
Society  their  sorrowful  condition,  pleading  for  sym- 
pathy and  succor,  and  closing  their  letter  with  this 
description  and  these  few  statistics :  ''As  to  our  out- 
ward estate,  it  may  very  well  be  said  that  we  are 
inconsiderable,  it  being  the  interests  of  our  govern- 
ment so  to  make  us ;  but  as  to  our  number,  we  have 
had  at  least  a  hundred  baptized  mto  the  Church,  and 
have  had  at  one  time  thirty-six  partakers  of  the  Holy 
Communion  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  have  several 
times  assembled  in  our  own  congregation  between 
two  and  three  hundred  persons;  and,  if  encouraged 
by  your  honors,  [ours]  may  be  as  flourishing  a  church 
as  any  country  church  in  America." 

The  minister  of  God,  for  wdiom  we  may  believe 
they  had  so  long  prayed  in  the  dark  night  of  their 
discoviragement  and  persecution,  came  to  them  at 
length,  Trinity  Sunday,  1722.  Heathcote  had  gone 
suddenly  to  his  rest  the  year  before,  and  the  Society 
in  England  sent  out  as  missionary  the  Rev.  George 
PiGOT,  who,  on  arriving  in  New  York,  thus  addressed 
the  churchmen  of  Stratford  under  date  of  April  23, 
1722:  "I  take  this  opportunity  by  your  own  towns- 
man of  informing  you  of  the  Society's  great  care  of 
you,  who  have  been  pleased  to  appoint  me,  a  mean 
yet  willing  watchman  over  you  for  the  Lord.  I  chose 
to  settle  among   you,  because  my  family  might  be 


28  HISTORY  OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

more  easily  transported  from  Rhode -Island  (where 
they  now  reside)  to  your  town,  than  to  any  other 
vacant  mission  in  America.  It  is  expected  from  you, 
that  you  will  make  some  provision  for  me  and  mine ; 
that  I  may  not  be  necessitated  to  settle  elsewhere,  as 
the  Society  have  promised,  if  you  do  not  take  care 
accordingly.  I  am  now  waiting  for  a  passage  to 
Rhode-Island,  from  whence,  after  settlement  of  my 
affau's,  you  may  expect  your  hitherto  unknown  and 
very  humble  servant." 

For  this  favor,  as  well  as  for  the  books  which  Mr. 
Pigot  brought  with  him,  the  people  returned  their 
most  grateful  acknowledgments.  He  won  their  hearts 
by  his  energy  and  edifying  conversation,  and  the 
Church,  whose  "  timber  "  had  been  seasoning  for  years, 
was  at  once  put  in  the  progress  of  completion,  and  on 
a  site  which  the  town  in  lawful  meeting  first  refused, 
but  afterwards  were  compelled  to  allow.  By  this 
time,  some  earnest  inquiries  had  been  started  else- 
where, and  soon  those  astounding  events  in  the 
rehgious  history  of  the  colony  occurred  that  widened 
the  prospect  of  establishmg  the  Church  and  increasing 
the  number  of  her  parishes.  Samuel  Johnson,  an 
acceptable  minister  among  the  Congregationalists  at 
West  Haven,  and  Timothy  Cutler,  for  ten  years  the 
popular  preacher  in  Stratford,  but  now  the  classic 
Rector  of  Yale  College,  with  their  associates,  Jared 
Eliot,  John  Hart,  Samuel  Whittelsey,  James  Wetmore, 
and  Daniel  Brown,  coming  together  first  as  friends 
and  brethren,  had  finally  met  in  the  Library  of  the 
Institution,  and  examined  from  time  to  time  a  few 
theological  books  sent  over  in  kindness  from  the 
mother-country.      They  examined  the  doctrines  and 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  29 

practices  of  the  Primitive  Church,  and  compared  them 
with  the  model  of  their  own  discipHne  and  worship ; 
and  the  farther  they  pushed  their  inquiries,  the  more 
uneasy  they  became.  As  Ught  would  break  in  upon 
the  darkened  chamber  of  their  toil,  they  were  com- 
pelled at  last  to  welcome  it;  and  not  only  the  two 
who  occupied  the  eminently  responsible  positions  in 
the  College,  but  the  rest,  making  no  secret  of  their 
opinions,  sent  m  to  the  Trustees,  "Eev.  Fathers  and 
Brethren  present  in  the  Library,"  a  formal  statement 
of  their  views,  and  declared  for  Episcopacy,  or  doubted 
the  validity  of  Presbyterian  ordination.  Unspeakable 
was  the  amazement  of  the  grave  assembly  which 
heard  the  statement  of  Cutler  and  his  associates ; 
ovenA^helming  w^as  the  sorrow  and  wide  the  con- 
sternation as  the  tidings  of  it  passed  from  town  to 
town  and  village  to  village.  "I  suppose,"  says  Presi- 
dent Woolsey,  speaking  of  this  event  in  the  Historical 
Discourse  delivered  on  occasion  of  the  one  hundred 
and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Institution,  "  that 
greater  alarm  w^ould  scarcely  be  awakened  now,  if 
the  Theological  Faculty  of  the  College  were  to  de- 
clare for  the  Church  of  Rome,  avow  their  belief  in 
Transubstantiation,  and  pray  to  the  Virgin  Mary." 

Nothing*  could  shake  the  strong-est  of  these  men 
from  their  convictions.  They  had  been  looked  upon  as 
brethren  of  highest  promise  and  influence,  and  there- 
fore every  effort  was  made  to  remove  their  doubts 
and  misgivings,  to  settle  them  back  into  the  prevail- 
ing faith,  and  thus  to  quiet  the  apprehensions  and 
alarm  of  the  pastors  and  the  people.  The  General 
Assembly  was  to  have  a  session  in  the  ensuing  Octo- 
ber, and  Saltonstall,  the  Governor  of  the  colony,  —  of 


30  HISTORr   OF   THE    EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

whom  Dr.  Trumbull  speaks  as  "a  great  man,  well 
versed  in  the  Episcopal  controversy,"  —  with  a  view 
to  these  benevolent  ends,  invited  and  presided  over  a 
debate  held  the  day  after  the  session  commenced,  and 
in  which  he  appears  himself  to  have  borne  a  con- 
spicuous part.  The  friendly  conference  was  invited 
with  no  expectation  that  it  would  terminate  virtually 
in  the  discomfiture  of  the  Trustees  of  the  College ;  but 
it  was  soon  discovered  that  the  parties  were  une- 
qually matched,  —  the  advocates  for  the  Church  hav- 
ing weighed  and  examined  the  points  in  controversy 
with  the  utmost  care,  while  to  Saltonstall  and  his  sup- 
porters many  of  them  were  new  and  perplexing. 
The  defence  of  EpiscojDacy  by  one  of  the  number  ex- 
citing some  irritating  remarks  from  the  other  side, 
the  Governor  abruptly  put  an  end  to  the  debate,  and 
it  never  was  reopened  in  the  same  way.  Cutler, 
Johnson,  and  Brown  Avavered  not,  having  studied  the 
matter  too  thoroughly  to  be  shaken  by  anything  but 
ftxir  and  solid  argument.  But  three  others,  Eliot, 
Hart,  and  Whittelsey,  who  only  doubted  the  validity 
of  Presbyterian  ordination,  continued  in  their  respec- 
tive places,  and  for  the  rest  of  their  days  "were  never 
known  to  act  or  say  or  insinuate  anything  to  the  dis- 
advantage of  the  Church."  Wetmore,  who  stood  up 
side  by  side  with  his  friends  in  the  College  Library, 
defending  Episcopacy,  surrendered  his  pastoral  charge 
a  few  months  later,  and  followed  them  to  England  for 
Holy  Orders. 

In  closing  this  chapter,  it  is  imj^ossible  not  to  be 
grateful  to  the  Giver  of  all  good  for  the  priceless 
inheritance  which  we  have  received.  With  every 
revolving  year  we  may  find  new  and  stronger  rea- 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  31 

sons  to  bless  God  for  his  Church,  which  is  the  pillar 
and  ground  of  the  truth,  and  for  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer,  which  is  the  beautiful  cliild  of  the  Ref- 
ormation, or,  to  use  another  figure,  the  golden  casket 
that  contains  spolia  ophna,  the  richest  spoils  of  one  of 
the  noblest  and  mightiest  conflicts  ever  waged  with 
"  principalities  and  powers  and  spiritual  wickedness  in 
high  places."  Since  the  fathers  of  Christendom  fell 
asleep  for  "  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  there  has  been 
no  such  struggle  with  the  champions  of  error,  igno- 
rance, and  superstition  as  that  which  Wickliffe  com- 
menced, and  Cranmer  and  Ridley  and  Latimer  con- 
tinued even  to  martyrdom.  Honor  be  to  the  Church, 
then,  —  with  all  her  shortcomings  and  aU  the  evils 
that  inhere  to  her  as  a  national  hierarchy,  —  which 
does  not  forget  her  children,  but  follows  them  forth 
into  the  wilderness,  and  feeds  them  there  with  the 
bread  of  life,  comforts  them  with  the  prayers  of  her 
venerable  Liturgy,  and  cheers  them  with  hymns  and 
chorals,  around  which  cluster  the  precious  memo- 
ries of  confessors  and  martyrs  and  saints  in  all  ages. 
She  goes  where  the  English  tongue  goes,  and  blesses 
with  her  holiest  benedictions  the  lowliest  vales  of 
poverty  and  the  highest  seats  of  power. 

"  She  kindles  realms  so  far  aparf, 
That,  while  her  praise  you  sing, 
These  may  V)c  clad  with  Autunfui'!;  fruits, 
And  those  with  flowers  of  Spring." 

She  has  claimed  "  the  heathen  for  her  inheritance, 
and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  her  pos- 
session." 


32  HISTORY   OF   THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 


CHAPTER  in. 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  LITURGY  AND  TEACHINGS  OF  THE 
CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND  ;  AND  THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  DEBATE 
IN  THE  LIBRARY  OF  YALE  COLLEGE. 

A.    D.    1722-1723. 

The  Commencement  at  Yale  College  in  1722  at- 
tracted unusual  attention.  The  events  briefly  noted 
in  the  conclusion  of  the  previous  chapter  were  not 
anticipated,  but  there  had  been  some  whisperings 
about  the  frequent  conferences  in  the  Library,  of 
Cutler  and  the  neighboring  ministers,  and  a  word 
had  been  dropped  here  and  there  which  boded  the 
probability  of  a  strange  development.  Johnson  had 
made  a  summer  visit  to  Mr.  Pigot  at  Stratford ;  and 
the  interview  showed  so  plainly  the  direction  in  which 
the  thoughts  and  affections  of  the  inquirers  were 
drifting,  and  so  surprised  and  gratified  the  Missionary 
of  the  Church  of  England,  that  he  could  neither  refrain 
from  hinting  the  matter  to  his  good  parishioners,  nor 
refuse  the  courteous  invitation  of  the  Rector  of  the 
College  to  be  present  at  the  approaching  Commence- 
ment. He  came  not,  however,  to  take  any  part  in 
that  earnest  debate  which  was  subsequently  held, 
much  less  to  bolster  up  the  courage  of  his  new  and 
sympathizing  friends  in  their  meditated  change.  It 
does  not  appear  that  he  was  at  any  time,  or  in  any 
way,  the  aider  or  suggester  of  their  united  action. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  33 

As  far  as  related  to  the  main  points  at  issue,  they 
probably  nnderstood  them  as  thoroughly  as  the  Mis- 
sionary himself.  In  a  communication  to  the  Society 
written  just  before  this  eventful  Commencement,  he 
says :  "  Those  gentlemen  who  are  ordained  pastors 
among  the  Independents,  namely,  Mr,  Cutler,  the 
President  of  Yale  College,  and  five  more,  have  held 
a  conference  with  me,  and  are  determined  to  declare 
themselves  professors  of  the  Church  of  England,  as 
soon  as  they  shall  understand  they  will  be  supported 
at  home." 

It  may  be  proper  to  mention  in  this  place,  that  the 
Institution,  located  first  at  Saybrook,  and  then  car- 
ried fractionally  to  other  towns  of  the  colony,  was 
finally,  by  a  major  vote  of  the  Trustees,  established  at 
New  Haven  in  1716.  A  storm  of  continued  opposi- 
tion arose  to  this  action,  broken  at  last  by  the  inter- 
ference of  the  General  Asseml)ly ;  but  all  the  elements 
of  discord  appear  to  have  been  completely  hushed 
when  Cutler  was  called  to  be  the  first  resident  Rector, 
and  Brown  was  appointed  to  assist  him  in  his  office. 
Johnson  now  relinquished  his  own  situation  as  a  tutor, 
held  by  him  for  three  years,  being  contented  to  leave 
the  College  —  which  had  been,  and  still  was,  an  object 
of  his  aftection  —  in  the  care  of  his  two  friends,  and 
from  whose  society  he  would  not  be  withdrawn  in 
retiring  to  West  Haven,  then  a  part  of  New  Haven, 
and  entering  upon  the  more  congenial  duties  of  pas- 
toral life.  There  he  was  set  apart  to  the  Congrega- 
tional ministry,  March  20,  1720,  when  he  was  in  the 
twenty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  Fairer  fields  of  labor 
and  more  inviting  offers,  in  many  respects,  had  been 
tendered  his  acceptance ;  but  as  one  prominent  ob- 


34  HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

ject  with  him  at  this  period  was  the  improvement 
of  his  mind,  with  a  view  to  more  extended  usefulness, 
he  could  not  be  distant  from  the  College,  the  Library, 
and  his  friends ;  and  so  West  Haven,  the  birthplace 
of  Brown,  was  selected  for  the  beginning  of  his  min- 
isterial work. 

A  good  man  in  Guilford  (Smithson)  —  blessed  be 
his  memory  !  —  had  a  Prayer  Book,  w  hich  he  put  into 
the  hands  of  the  youthful  Johnson  before  he  left  his 
native  town,  and  he  read  and  re-read  it  until  his  mind 
was  charged  with  its  contents,  and  he  began  to  feel 
as  the  celebrated  George  Herbert  of  old  felt  and  said, 
when  he  lay  on  the  bed  of  death,  "There  are  no 
prayers  like  those  of  my  mother,  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land." Many  of  these  prayers  he  committed  to  mem- 
ory and  used  as  occasion  required  in  public  worship, 
alike  to  the  comfort  of  himself  and  to  the  comfort  and 
edification  of  his  flock.  So  much  were  they  admired 
by  people  in  general,  that,  we  are  told,  "  it  was  com- 
mon for  persons  belonging  to  the  neighboring  parishes 
to  come  to  West  Haven  on  purpose  to  hear  them." 
He  had  previously  perused  a  discourse  of  Archbishop 
King,  "  On  the  Inventions  of  Men  in  the  Worship  of 
God,"  and  the  argument  to  him  was  so  convincing 
against  public  prayer  carried  on  in  the  extempore 
way,  that  he  was  already  prepared  to  lay  it  aside.  It 
is  no  wonder,  therefore,  while  thus  engaged,  that  all 
his  prejudices  against  the  Church  should  disappear,  and 
feelings  of  reverence  and  admiration  for  her  Ritual 
come  to  take  strong  possession  of  his  mind.  It  is  no 
wonder  that  he  shoidd  wish  to  communicate  his 
thoughts  to  his  friends,  and  to  consult  them  in  a 
matter  of  such  momentous  importance,  and  in  rela- 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  35 

tion  to  which  he  both  needed  and  prayed  for  du^ec- 
tion  and  assistance.  Hence  from  first  meeting  to- 
gether in  a  fraternal  way  at  the  residences  of  each 
other,  and  conversing  upon  the  subject  of  church  gov- 
ernment, they  had  proceeded  to  a  more  formal  and 
thorough  investigation,  and  read  carefully  the  best 
books  which  the  Library  furnished  on  either  side  of 
the  controversy.  Barrow,  Patrick,  South,  Tillotson, 
John  Scott,  Whitby,  Burnet,  Sharp,  and  Sherlock, 
eminent  authorities  in  English  theology  then,  and 
eminent  authorities  still,  were  among  the  writers 
whose  works,  through  Jeremiah  Dummer,  were  do- 
nated to  the  College,  while  yet  it  was  in  an  imperfect 
and  wandering  condition.  These  fell  under  their  im- 
mediate inspection  and  review;  and  probably  no  books, 
in  connection  with  the  Bible,  were  ever  more  intently 
exammed  and  studied.  The  eyes  of  seven  men,  seek- 
ing the  truth,  were  bent  upon  them  from  day  to  day 
and  month  to  month,  and  around  the  subjects  of  which 
they  treated,  their  thoughts  hung  constantly  in  mingled 
fear  and  hesitation.  In  surrendering  their  respective 
positions,  and  changing  the  form  of  their  faith,  they 
could  not  have  been  influenced  by  any  prospect  of 
bettering  their  temporal  fortunes,  and  they  must  have 
foreknown  that  it  would  be  a  severe  trial  for  them  to 
withstand  the  alternate  reproaches  and  entreaties  of 
their  friends.  Undoubtedly  they  were  sincere  and 
honest  in  their  intentions ;  and  had  their  inquiries 
settled  them  all  back  confidingly  in  the  established 
religion  of  the  colony,  —  situated  as  they  were,  and 
despised  and  abused  as  the  Church  of  England  then 
was,  —  it  would  have  been  a  most  welcome  result. 
Johnson  showed  the  workings  of  his  mind  and  his 


36  HISTORY   OF    THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

whole  desire  to  be  led  into  a  right  path,  when  he 
noted  in  his  private  journal,  three  months  before  the 
final  shock  came,  these  touching  words:  —  "I  hoped, 
when  I  was  ordained,  that  I  had  sufficiently  satisfied 
myself  of  the  validity  of  Presbyterian  ordination  under 
my  circumstances.  But,  alas !  I  have  ever  since  had 
growing  suspicions  that  it  is  not  right,  and  that  I  am 
an  usurper  in  the  House  of  God,  which  sometimes,  I 
must  confess,  fills  my  mind  with  a  great  deal  of  per- 
plexity, and  I  know  not  what  to  do :  my  case  is  very 
unhappy.  Oh,  that  I  could  either  gain  satisfaction, 
that  I  may  lawfully  proceed  in  the  execution  of  the 
ministerial  function,  or  that  Providence  would  make 
my  way  plain  for  the  obtaining  of  Ej)iscopal  orders ! 
What  course  I  shall  take  I  know  not.  Do  Thou,  0 
my  God,  direct  my  steps;  lead  and  guide  me  and  my 
friends  in  Thy  way  everlasting."  Again,  immediately 
after  the  Commencement,  and  when  he  had  been  ad- 
vised to  suspend  for  the  present  the  exercise  of  his 
ministry,  he  made  another  record  of  his  feelings,  as 
follows :  —  "It  is  with  great  sorrow  of  heart  that  I  am 
forced  thus,  by  the  uneasiness  of  my  conscience,  to  be 
an  occasion  of  so  much  uneasiness  to  my  dear  friends, 
my  poor  peo^Dle,  and  indeed  to  the  whole  colony.  0 
God,  I  beseech  Thee,  grant  that  I  may  not,  by  an 
adherence  to  Thy  necessary  truths  and  laws,  (as  I 
profess  in  my  conscience  they  seem  to  me,)  be  a 
stumbling-block  or  occasion  of  fall  to  any  soul." 

Six  of  these  men  had  been  educated,  wholly  or 
in  part,  at  Yale  College,  and  three  of  them.  Brown, 
Johnson,  and  Wetmore,  were  classmates  and  ultimate 
friends.  Cutler  was  of  Massachusetts  birth,  a  grad- 
uate of  Harvard,  and  the  eldest  of  the  number,  to 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  37 

whom  the  rest  looked  up  with  a  degree  of  fihal  rever- 
ence, and  as  the  guide  and  the  steadier  of  their  move- 
ments. His  popularity  as  a  preacher,  his  extensive 
learning,  and  the  responsible  office  which  he  held, 
gave  him  a  good  reputation  and  great  influence 
throughout  the  colony.  An  American  writer,  review- 
ing the  progress  and  events  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, and  who  had  no  sympathy  with  any  theology 
but  Presbyterian,  sums  up  an  estimate  of  his  charac- 
ter in  words  too  honorable  and  impartial  not  to  be 
quoted  here.  "In  Connecticut,  at  this  time,  literature 
and  science  were,  on  the  whole,  gaining  ground.  The 
appointment  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cutler,  as  President" 
(or  Rector,  the  term  used  in  those  days)  "  of  Yale 
College  was  an  auspicious  event  to  that  institution. 
He  was  a  man  of  profound  and  general  learning  in 
the  various  branches  of  knowledge  cultivated  in  his 
day,  particularly  in  Oriental  literature,  and  presided 
over  the  seminary  which  he  was  called  to  superintend, 
with  dignity,  usefulness,  and  general  approbation." 

The  Trustees,  too,  at  the  Commencement  following 
his  appointment,  indorsed  his  prudent  and  successful 
course  in  a  formal  vote,  "  That  his  service  hitherto,  in 
the  place  of  a  Rector,  was  to  their  good  satisfaction, 
and  therefore  they  desired  him  to  continue  in  it." 

Such  had  been  the  current  of  events,  and  such  was 
the  state  of  popular  feeling  in  reference  to  the  admin- 
istration of  the  College  just  prior  to  the  time  when 
Cutler  and  his  associates  revealed  the  change  in  their 
religious  sentiments.  The  Trustees,  alarmed  and 
grieved  at  the  intelligence  which  reached  them,  re- 
quested an  interview  with  these  gentlemen  in  the 
Library,  and  there,  the  day  after  the  Commencement, 


38  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

they  were  all  asked,  from  the  youngest  to  the  eldest, 
to  state  their  views  on  the  matters  which  troubled 
their  consciences,  and  not  only  to  state  them,  but  to 
express  them  briefly  in  writing.  The  modest  paper, 
reluctantly  prepared  in  obedience  to  this  challenge, 
ran  thus :  — 

"  To  the  Rev.  Mr.  Andreiv,  and  Mr.  Woodhridge  and  others, 
our  Reverend  Fathers  and  Brethren,  present  in  the  Library 
of  Yale  College,  this  IMi  of  September,  1722. 

"  Reverend  Gentlemen,- — Having  represented  to  you 
the  difficulties  which  we  labor  under,  in  relation  to 
our  continuance  out  of  the  visible  communion  of  an 
Episcopal  Church,  and  a  state  of  seeming  opposition 
thereto,  either  as  private  Christians,  or  as  officers,  and 
so  being  insisted  on  by  some  of  you  (after  our  re- 
peated declinings  of  it)  that  we  should  sum  up  our 
case  in  writing,  we  do  (though  with  great  reluctance, 
fearing  the  consequences  of  it)  submit  to  and  comply 
with  it,  and  signify  to  you  that  some  of  us  doubt  the 
vahdity,  and  the  rest  are  more  fully  persuaded  of  the 
invalidity  of  the  Presbyterian  ordination,  in  opposition 
to  the  Episcopal;  and  we  should  be  heartily  thankful 
to  God  and  man,  if  we  may  receive  from  them  satis- 
faction herein,  and  shall  be  willing  to  embrace  your 
good  counsels  and  instructions  in  relation  to  this 
important  affair,  as  far  as  God  shall  dh-ect  and  dispose 
us  to  it." 

The  paper  was  signed  by  the  whole  seA^en,  and  a 
true  copy  of  the  original,  attested  by  Daniel  Brown, 
is  among  the  archives  of  the  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts.  At  the  same 
time  two  other  "pastors  of  great  note  gave  their 
assent "  to  the    declaration  without   signing   it,  "  of 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  39 

whom  the  one,  Mr.  Bulkley,  of  Colchester,  declared 
Episcopacy  to  be  jure  divino,  and  the  other,  Mr.  Whit- 
mg,  of  some  remote  town,  also  gave  in  his  opinion  for 
moderate  Episcopacy."  The  critical  point  was  now 
touched.  To  remove  the  scruples  of  these  gentlemen 
and  give  them  "  satisfaction "  was  an  eflbrt  which 
required  some  little  time  and  consultation.  They 
were  all  entreated  to  reconsider  theu"  opinions  and 
surrender  their  doubts,  —  but  they  must  have  good 
reasons  du*ecting  and  disposing  them  to  this  course ; 
and  accordingly  that  earnest  and  sincere  debate  was 
held,  over  which  Governor  Saltonstall  presided  with 
such  candor  and  politeness,  and  which  has  akeady 
been  described  as  having  taken  place  in  the  ensuing 
month,  on  the  day  after  the  opening  of  the  Autumn 
session  of  the  General  Assembly.  The  minds  and 
pens  of  the  Congregational  ministers  were  not  idle 
in  the  intervenmg  tune.  Joseph  Webb,  of  Fairfield, 
writing  to  Cotton  Mather  at  Boston,  and  speaking  of 
what  he  termed  "the  revolt  of  several  persons  of 
figure  among  us  unto  the  Church  of  England,"  said : 
"  They  are,  the  most  of  them,  reputed  men  of  consider- 
able learning,  and  all  of  them  of  a  virtuous  and  blame- 
less conversation.  I  apprehend  the  axe  is  hereby  laid 
to  the  root  of  our  civil  and  sacred  enjoyments,  and  a 
doleful  gap  opened  for  trouble  and  confusion  in  our 
churches.  The  churchmen  among  us  are  wonderfully 
encouraged  and  Ufted  up  by  the  appearance  of  these 
gentlemen  on  their  side ;  and  how  many  more  will,  by 
their  example,  be  encouraged  to  go  off  from  us  to 
them,  God  only  knows.  It  is  a  very  dark  day  with 
us ;  and  we  need  pity,  prayers,  and  counsel."  But 
what  appears  to  have  occasioned  him  personal  uneasi- 


40  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

ness  was  the  matter  of  ordination.  He  foresaw  a 
possible  turn  in  the  approaching  debate,  which  it 
would  be  difficult  to  meet.  Several  pastors  in  the 
colony,  in  the  more  ancient  days  of  it,  had  been  set 
apart  to  the  ministry  by  laymen,  and  the  pastors  so 
ordained  had  acted  in  subsequent  ordinations.  His 
own  ordination  was  of  this  kind,  and  had  a  connection 
with  "  the  leather  mitten  that  was  laid  on  the  head  of 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Israel  Chauncey,  of  Stratford."  If  their 
antagonists  should  allow  to  Presbyters  the  power 
to  ordain,  they  might  accompany  the  admission  with 
the  remark,  "Your  ordination  is  not  by  Presbyters, 
but  by  laymen;"  and  the  debate  urged  in  this  Hue 
would  be  more  troublesome,  and,  he  thought,  "  more 
damaging  than  all  the  arguments  that  could  be 
brought  for  the  necessity  of  Episcopal  ordination." 

Joseph  Moss,  of  Derby,  in  a  letter  to  the  same 
divine,  and  bearing  the  same  date,  was  in  similar  per- 
plexity. Though  fully  satisfied  in  his  own  mind  that 
the  truth  was  on  his  side,  he  yet  confessed  that  he 
had  not  read  much  upon  the  controversy,  and,  there- 
fore, he  would  "be  very  glad  to  have  some  books  that 
do  nervously  handle  this  point  concerning  ordination 
by  Presbyters,  whether  good  or  bad." 

Davenport  and  Buckingham,  tl^^  ministers  at  Stam- 
ford and  Norwalk,  joined  in  bemoaning  to  their  Bos- 
ton friends  "  the  dark  Providence  "  which  they  felt  to 
be  hanging  over  the  entire  colon}^  In  reference  to 
the  College,  they  spoke  of  its  pristine  glory,  and 
added,  "But  who  could  have  conjectured  that  its 
name,  being  raised  to  Collegium  Yalense  from  a  Gymna- 
sium Sai/hrookense,  it  should  groan  out  Ichabod,  in 
about  three  years  and  a  half  under  its  second  rector 


IN    CONNECTICUT.  41 

SO  unlike  the  first,  by  an  unhappy  election,  set  over  it, 
into  whose  election  or  confirmation,  or  any  act  relat- 
ing to  him,  the  senior  subscriber  hereof  (though  not 
for  some  reason,  through  malice  or  mistake  bruited) 
never  came." 

These  two  ministers,  and  a  few  others  of  like  tem- 
per, went  so  far  as  to  charge  Cutler  with  dishonesty 
or  dissimulation  in  consenting  to  hold  a  position  of 
such  exalted  influence,  while,  for  eleven  or  twelve 
3^ears,  he  had  been  secretly  of  the  Episcopal  persua- 
sion, and  only  waited  for  a  suitable  opportunity  to 
avow  his  faith.  HoUis,  writing  from  London,  in  1723, 
to  Benjamin  Colman  in  Boston,  makes  a  like  state- 
ment, which  he  professes  to  have  obtained  from  him, 
and  which  he  gives  in  these  words :  "  I  never  was  in 
judgment  heartily  with  the  Dissenters,  but  bore  it 
patiently  until  a  favorable  opportunity  offered.  This 
has  opened  at  Boston,  and  I  now  declare  pubficly 
what  I  before  believed  privately."  But  there  is  not  a 
particle  of  evidence  coming  directly  from  Cutler  to 
support  the  charge,  and  what  thus  comes  from  other 
sources  is  based  chiefly  on  rumor;  so  that  if  at  any 
time  he  dropped  a  word  which  was  construed  in  this 
way,  he  probably  intended  no  more  by  it  than  that 
there  had  long  been  a  struggle  between  his  rehgious 
convictions  and  his  temporal  prospects. 

Passing  over  the  harsh  epithets  applied  to  these 
gentlemen  and  to  the  Church  of  England,  as  no  better 
than  Popery,  by  the  ministers  intemperately  zealous 
for  the  prosperity  of  the  prevailing  order,  we  come  to 
the  results  of  the  theological  dispute  in  the  Col- 
lege Library.  If  both  sides  claimed  the  victory,  it 
cannot  be  said  that  both  sides  went  away  equally 


42  HISTORY    OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

satisfied.  The  abrupt  termination  of  the  debate  was 
soon  enough,  as  we  have  seen,  to  save  to  Congrega- 
tionaUsm  three  of  the  signers  of  the  declaration,  Eliot, 
Hart,  and  Whittelsey  ;  but  the  rest,  with  clearer  and 
more  decided  convictions,  were  quite  prepared  to  fol- 
low on  in  the  severe  path  which  they  had  already 
entered.  They  distinctly  declared  their  belief  that 
the  Church  of  England  was  a  true  branch  of  the 
Church  of  Christ,  and  that  it  became  their  duty  to 
enter  and  serve  in  her  communion.  The  Trustees 
took  no  official  action,  or  rather  passed  no  resolves,  at 
the  annual  Commencement  in  reference  to  the  Rector 
or  the  Tutor,  —  though  the  latter  had  sent  in  his 
resignation, — preferring  without  doubt  to  ascertain 
the  popular  will  as  well  as  to  wait  the  result  of  the 
efforts  to  restore  them  in  full  affection  to  the  estab- 
lished religion.  But  when  the  controversy  had  been 
closed,  and  while  the  General  Assembly  was  still  in 
session,  they  met  and  voted  to  "  excuse  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Cutler  from  all  further  service  as  rector  of  Yale  Col- 
lege, and  to  accept  of  the  resignation  which  Mr. 
Brown  had  made  as  tutor."  They  voted  too,  "  that 
all  such  persons  as  shall  hereafter  be  elected  to  the 
office  of  rector  or  tutor  in  this  college,  shall,  before 
they  are  accepted  therein,  before  the  trustees  declare 
their  assent  to  the  confession  of  faith  owned  and  con- 
sented to  by  the  elders  and  messengers  of  the  churches 
in  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  assembled  by  delega- 
tion at  Saybrook,  September  9,  1708 ;  and  confirmed 
by  act  of  the  general  assembly ;  and  shall  particularly 
give  satisfaction  to  them  of  the  soundness  of  their 
faith,  in  opposition  to  Arminian  or  prelatical  corrup- 
tions, or  any  other  of  dangerous  consequence  to  the 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  43 

purity  and  peace  of  the  churches."  Still  further  they 
voted,  "that  upon  just  grounds  of  suspicion  of  the 
rector's  or  a  tutor's  inclination  to  Arminian  or  prelat- 
ical  principles,  a  meeting  of  the  trustees  shall  be 
called  to  examine  into  the  case." 

All  this  was  done  to  guard  the  established  religion 
of  the  land,  and  to  maintain  in  their  integrity  the  faith 
and  ecclesiastical  organization  of  the  Puritans.  The 
displacement  of  Rector  Cutler  from  his  office  was  a 
natural  step,  which  few  will  be  bold  enough,  even  at 
this  late  day,  to  censure,  under  the  circumstances, 
but  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  it  with  the  cherished 
theory  that  the  settlement  of  New  England  was 
"purely  to  propagate  civil  and  religious  liberty T  The 
resolves  of  the  Trustees  were  passed  October  27,  and 
a  week  later,  Cutler,  Johnson,  and  Brown  were  on 
their  way  to  Boston,  where  they  embarked  Novem- 
ber 5th,  and  sailed  for  England.  They  had  prepared 
their  friends  for  this  termination  of  their  inquiries 
by  putting  books  into  their  hands  which  they  per- 
suaded them  to  read,  and  Johnson,  in  resigning  his 
pastoral  charge,  told  his  people  in  affectionate  terms 
that  he  would  return  to  them,  if  they  would  receive 
him  as  an  Episcopal  clergyman;  but  with  such  a  prop- 
osition they  were  unable  to  comply,  notwithstanding 
their  esteem  for  him  personally,  and  their  admiration 
of  his  preaching  and  his  prayers,  both  of  which,  he 
now  informed  them  to  their  great  surprise,  had  all 
along  been  drawn  from  the  Church  of  England.  When 
he  had  laid  together  and  balanced  all  the  considera- 
tions which  affected  his  rehgious  feeUngs,  and  come 
to  a  resolution  to  brave  the  consequences  of  renounc- 
ing the  faith  in  which  he  had  been  educated,  he  wrote 


44  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

in  his  private  journal  these  final  words :  "  It  seems  to 
be  my  duty  to  venture  myself  in  the  arms  of  Almighty 
Providence,  and  cross  the  ocean  for  the  sake  of  that 
excellent  church,  the  Church  of  England,  and  God 
preserve  me ;  and  if  I  err,  God  forgive  me." 

After  a  stormy  passage  they  reached  the  shores  of 
the  mother-country,  and  landing  at  Ramsgate  De- 
cember 15th,  they  proceeded  immediately  to  Canter- 
bury, where  they  were  obliged  to  tarry  three  days 
for  a  stage-coach  to  take  them  to  London. 

This  brief  suspension  of  their  journey  aflbrded  them 
an  opportunity  to  see  and  hear  what  they  had  never 
seen  and  heard  before.  On  the  morning  after  their 
arrival,  they  visited  the  Cathedral  Church  and  joined 
in  the  celebration  of  divine  service.  They  must  have 
been  bowed  to  reverence  by  the  deep  solemnity  of 
the  place  and  the  worship.  The  magnificence  of  the 
structure,  its  lofty  arches  and  shadowy  aisles,  the  air 
'of  devotion,  the  "dim  religious  light,"  the  surpliced 
priests,  the  beauty,  the  order  of  the  whole  service,  — 
the  notes  of  the  pealing  organ,  growing  more  and 
more  dense  and  powerful,  filling  the  vast  pile  and 
seeming  to  cause  the  very  walls  to  tremble,  the  rich 
voices  of  the  choir  breaking  out,  at  intervals,  into 
sweet  gushes  of  melody,  —  gushes  that  rose  and  re- 
verberated through  every  part  of  the  sacred  edifice, 
—  how  grandly  impressive,  yet  how  surprising,  all 
these  things  must  have  been  to  men  who  had  just 
emerged  from  the .  bald  worship  of  the  Puritans,  and 
known  only  their  plain  sanctuaries  here  in  the  wilds 
of  New  England.  Surely  feelings  of  reverential  grat- 
itude must  have  overflowed  their  hearts  at  finding 
themselves  in  that   venerable   cathedral,  "observing 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  45 

the  ordinances  and  sharing  the  devotions  of  a  church, 
which  in  spite  of  the  misrepresentations  and  taunts 
of  her  adversaries  they  had  learned  to  vindicate  and 
to  honor."  They  had  no  letters  of  introduction  to 
any  one  in  Canterbury,  but,  relying  upon  the  strength 
of  their  mission  to  favor  them,  they  ventured,  through 
their  landlord,  to  present  themselves  to  the  Dean,  — 
the  excellent  and  learned  Dr.  Stanhope,  whose  name 
is  familiar  to  all  students  in  English  theology.  On 
reaching  the  Deanery,  he  instructed  the  servant  to 
say  "  that  they  were  some  gentlemen  from  America, 
come  over  for  Holy  Orders,  who  were  desirous  of  pay- 
ing their  duty  to  the  Dean."  He  came  at  once  to 
the  door,  took  them  cordially  by  the  hand,  and  to 
their  amazement  said,  "  Come  in,  gentlemen ;  you  are 
very  welcome ;  I  know  you  well,  for  we  have  just  been 
reading  your  declaration  for  the  Church." 

The  declaration,  with  their  names  appended,  had 
found  its  way  into  the  London  papers,  and  the  Dean 
and  a  company  of  Prebendaries  who  dined  with  him 
were  engaged  in  reading  it,  at  the  moment  when 
their  arrival  was  announced.  Every  feeling  of  em- 
barrassment that  they  were  in  a  land  of  strangers 
was  dispelled  by  this  hearty  welcome.  Here  in  Can- 
terbury, as  elsewhere,  friends  rose  up  and  followed 
them  with  their  favors  and  remembrances  ;  and  one 
kind  gentleman,  chaplain  to  the  Earl  of  Thanet,  meet- 
ing them  some  months  afterwards  in  London,  invited 
them  to  his  lodgings,  and  "  counted  out  to  each  of 
them  ten  guineas,"  which  were  a  present  from  his 
noble  patron  for  the  purchase  of  books.  Their  recep- 
tion by  the  Bishop  of  London,  (Dr.  Robinson,)  under 
whose  jurisdiction  the  Colonial  Church  in  New  Eng- 


4G  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

land  was  placed,  and  by  the  principal  members  of  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  was  equally 
cordial  and  gratifying.  They  found  sympathy  wher- 
ever they  went,  and  from  men  of  cultivated  minds 
who  honored  them  for  their  independence  and  sacri- 
fices. They  bore  with  them,  among  other  testimoni- 
als, a  letter  from  the  Rev.  James  Orem,  —  one  of  the 
Society's  missionaries  in  Rhode  Island,  —  in  which  he 
said :  "  I  can  scarce  express  the  hardships  they  have 
undergone,  and  the  indignities  that  have  been  put 
upon  them,  by  the  worst  sort  of  dissenters  who  bear 
sway  here,  and  several  honest  gentlemen  who  declared 
for  the  church  with  them ;  who,  by  reason  of  the 
unhappy  circumstances  of  their  families,  can't  go  to 
England,  l)ut  lie  now  under  all  the  hardships  and 
pressures  that  the  mahce  and  rage  of  the  implacable 
enemies  of  our  excellent  church  and  constitution  can 
subject  them  to  -,  but  I  hope  their  suffering  condition 
will  be  taken  into  consideration  at  home."  Some  lay- 
men in  the  same  province.  Church-wardens  and  Ves- 
trymen, testified  to  their  high  character  and  disinter- 
ested motives,  by  saying,  "  It  is  plain  these  gentlemen 
have,  in  this  important  affair,  acted  like  Christians 
and  men  of  virtue  and  honor,  without  any  sordid 
private  views  of  interest  and  advancement."  The 
bishops  and  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England,  there- 
fore, could  do  no  less  than  regard  them  with  the  love 
and  confidence  of  brothers  ;  and,  satisfied  of  their  emi- 
nent fitness  for  the  ministry  into  which  they  desired 
to  enter,  arrangements  were  soon  made  for  their  ordi- 
nation and  future  duties.  It  was  decided  that  to 
Cutler  should  be  committed  the  new  church  (Christ) 
about  to  be  opened  in  Boston ;  that  Brown  should  have 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  47 

the  charge  of  the  vacant  Mission  at  Bristol,  in  Rhode 
Island,  and  that  Johnson  should  be  appointed  to  Strat- 
ford, in  the  neighborhood  of  his  former  associations ; 
while  Mr.  Pigot,  who  had  lingered  now,  at  the  earnest 
request  of  the  Society,  for  more  than  a  year  in  Con- 
necticut, should  proceed  to  Providence,  the  first  desig- 
nated field  of  his  labor. 

But  these  plans,  so  well  laid  by  the  wisdom  of  man, 
were  destined  to  be  frustrated,  in  a  measure,  by  the 
inscrutable  and  higher  wisdom  of  God.  Before  they 
had  quite  completed  their  preparations  for  receiving 
Holy  Orders,  the  small-pox,  a  disease  which  was  long 
the  dread  of  both  Europe  and  America,  fell  with  great 
severity  upon  Cutler,  the  eldest  of  the  three,  and 
threatened  to  terminate  in  his  death.  But  the  Divine 
goodness  was  pleased  to  spare  him,  and  upon  his  re- 
covery, towards  the  end  of  March  1723,  he  and  his 
two  friends  were  ordained  by  the  Bishop  of  Norwich, 
(Dr.  Green,)  in  St.  Martin's  Church,  first  Deacons,  and 
afterwards  Priests.  The  Bishop  of  London,  (Dr.  Rob- 
inson,) to  whom  the  duty  belonged,  was  so  near  his 
grave  that  he  was  obliged  to  delegate  the  office  with 
Letters  dimissory  to  his  brother  in  the  Episcopate. 
The  high  object  for  which  they  had  suffered  and  sur- 
rendered so  much,  for  which  they  had  encountered 
many  of  St.  Paul's  perils,  been  "in  weariness  and 
painfulness,"  and  crossed  the  ocean,  was  at  last  at- 
tained, and  they  were  clothed  with  authority  to  exe- 
cute the  office  of  Priests  in  the  Church  of  God.  But, 
alas !  another  and  a  more  painful  trial  was  at  hand. 
Scarcely  had  they  arranged  for  brief  visits  to  Oxford 
and  other  places,  prior  to  their  return  to  America, 
before   the    same    dreadful  malady  which  had   pros- 


48  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

trated  for  a  time  the  eldest,  reappeared  with  greater 
maUgnity,  and  struck  down  to  the  dust  the  youngest 
of  their  number.  Within  a  week  after  their  ordina- 
tion, Brown,  who  had  preached  the  day  before,  was 
seized  with  the  small-pox  and  died  on  Easter  eve,  — 
a  mysterious  loss  to  the  Church ;  mourned  by  all  who 
knew  him,  but  by  none  so  much  as  by  his  dear  friend 
and  classmate,  the  companion  of  his  travels,  and  the 
sharer  of  his  personal  fears  and  solicitudes.  He  was 
not  laid  to  his  rest  in  his  native  land  and  among  the 
graves  of  his  immediate  kindred ;  but  if  he  must  be 
cut  off  in  the  bright  morning  of  his  youth,  and  while 
yet  he  had  but  once  lifted  up  his  voice  as  a  minister 
in  the  Church  which  he  had  so  earnestly  hoped  and 
prayed  to  serve,  doubtless  it  was  some  consolation 
to  his  mind,  that  he  was  among  those  who  recognized 
and  regarded  him  as  a  brother,  and  in  a  land  towards 
which  his  thoughts,  for  many  months,  had  been  affec- 
tionately drawn.  If  God  vouchsafed  him  the  con- 
sciousness of  death  in  the  last  hour,  he  might  have 
felt,  as  a  poet  of  our  Church  has  expressed  the  sen- 
timent, — 

"  And  I  can  yet  my  dust  lay  down 
Beneath  old  England's  sward  ; 
For,  lulled  by  her,  't  were  sweet  to  wait 
The  coming  of  the  Lord." 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  49 


CHAPTER  ly. 

THE  RETURN  OF  CUTLER  AND  JOHNSON  TO  AMERICA,  AND  THE 
INCREASE   OF   THE    CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND   IN  CONNECTICUT. 

A.    D.   1723-1727. 

When  the  first  shock  of  sorrow  for  their  painful 
bereavement  had  passed  away,  the  surviving  friends 
of  Brown  began  to  prepare  for  their  departure  to  this 
country.  They  improved  the  brief  remainder  of  their 
sojourn  in  England  by  visiting  the  Universities  of 
Oxford  and  Cambridge,  where  they  were  treated  with 
every  mark  of  affectionate  and  respectful  regard,  and 
honored  in  a  way  which  must  have  been  specially 
gratifying  to  their  personal  pride  and  laudable  ambi- 
tion. Oxford  conferred  upon  Cutler  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Divinity,  and  upon  Johnson  that  of  Master 
of  Arts,  giving  them  both  diplomas ;  and  Cambridge, 
shortly  afterwards,  repeated  to  them  the  same  distin- 
guished honors.  By  this  time  James  Wetmore,  who 
had  boldly  delivered  his  testimony  for  Episcopacy  in 
presence  of  the  authorities  of  the  College  and  of  Con- 
necticut, and  whom  they  had  left  behind  to  make 
suitable  arrangements  for  his  voyage,  had  resigned 
liis  pastoral  charge  at  North  Haven,  and  now  came  to 
be  their  companion  in  the  ranks  of  the  Church  of 
England,  as  well  as  in  their  visits  to  Cambridge,  Wind- 
sor, Hampton  Court,  and  other  remarkable  places.  Dr. 
Robinson,  the  Bishop  of  London,  had  descended  to 


50  HISTORY   OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

his  grave,  and  Bishop  Gibson,  an  excellent  and  learned 
prelate,  had  been  translated  from  the  See  of  Lincoln 
to  be  his  successor.  From  him  they  received  their 
letters  of  license,  and,  at  the  universities  not  more 
than  in  London,  they  availed  themselves  of  every 
opportunity  to  enter  into  a  full  description  of  the 
state  of  the  Colonial  Church,  and  to  show  the  vast 
injury  it  was  suffering  for  the  want  of  an  Episcopate. 
While  they  had  encountered  the  perils  of  the  ocean 
to  obtain  what  their  consciences  told  them  was  a 
valid  ordination,  and  while  they  were  at  that  moment 
fresh  in  their  grief  over  the  loss  of  a  beloved  asso- 
ciate who  had  fallen  a  victim  to  the  distemper  of  the 
country,  they  certainly  had  a  good  right  to  speak 
with  earnestness  and  warmth  on  this  subject,  and  to 
represent  the  discouraging  effect  which  their  experi- 
ence must  have  upon  those  Congregational  ministers 
in  New  Eno;land  who  were  waitina;  to  be  settled  in 
the  faith  of  the  Church.  In  Bishop  Gibson  they 
found  not  only  an  attentive  listener,  but  one  who 
proved  himself  a  noble  Christian  prelate,  by  his  anxi- 
ety to  correct  the  evils  of  which  they  complained, 
and  who,  on  his  first  coming  to  the  See  of  London, 
set  forth  in  a  large  memorial  the  advantages  of  placing 
and  maintaining  one  or  more  bishops  in  the  American 
colonies.  Mr.  Pigot,  writing  to  the  Society  soon  after 
his  arrival  at  Stratford,  pleaded  for  the  same  manifest 
right ;  and  referring  to  the  hardships  of  compelling  the 
new  converts  from  Presbyterianism  to  go  to  England 
for  Episcopal  ordination,  added,  "  The  Honorable  So- 
ciety will  perceive  by  this,  that  many  sound  reasons 
are  not  wanting  to  inspirit  them  to  procure  the  mis- 
sion of  a  Bishop  into  these  Western  parts ;  for,  besides 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  51 

the  deficiency  of  a  governor  in  the  Church,  to  inspect 
the  regular  lives  of  the  clergy,  to  ordain,  confirm, 
consecrate  churches,  and  the  like,  amongst  those  that 
already  conform,  there  is,  also,  a  sensible  want  of  this 
superior  order,  as  a  sure  bulwark  against  the  many 
heresies  that  are  already  brooding  in  this  part  of  the 
world." 

Dr.  Cutler  and  Mr.  Johnson  —  having  completed 
their  designs  in  visiting  the  mother-country,  and 
established  bonds  of  friendship  which  united  the 
hearts  of  zealous  churchmen  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic  —  embarked  for  a  New-England  port  July 
26,  1723,  and  immediately  upon  their  arrival  hast- 
ened, the  one  to  his  church  in  Boston,  the  other  to 
his  mission  at  Stratford.  The  day  after  reaching  his 
charge,  (Nov.  5th,)  Johnson  made  another  entry  in 
his  private  journal,  thus  :  "God  having  in  his  merciful 
Providence  spared  me  another  year  through  so  many 
dangers  as  I  have  been  exposed  unto  on  my  late  voy- 
age, and  returned  me  safe  to  my  father's  house,  and 
here  to  my  charge,  I  adore  his  singular  and  marvel- 
lous goodness,  which  I  the  rather  admire,  because  I, 
who  am  a  sinful  unworthy  creature,  am  spared  when 
my  friend  far  worthier  than  I  (Mr.  Brown)  is  cut  off, 
for  which  dispensation  of  God,  I  desire  to  be  deeply 
humbled.  He  was  one  of  the  most  amiable  persons 
in  the  world,  a  finely  accomplished  scholar,  and  a 
brave  Christian.  But  such  is  thy  pleasure,  0  good 
God,  such  thy  kindness,  that  I  am  yet  ahve,  though 
unworthy  to  live !  What  can  I  do  less  than  devote 
my  Hfe  thus  preserved  by  Thee  to  thy  service,  to  do 
all  the  good  I  can  for  thy  glory  and  the  souls  of  men ! 
And  as  I  am  now  (for  which  I  adore  thy  goodness) 


52  HISTORY   OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

perfectly  well  satisfied  as  to  the  lawfulness  and  regu- 
larities of  my  mission,  (being  Episcopally  initiated,  con- 
firmed, and  ordained,)  so  I  purpose  by  thy  grace  both 
to  adorn  my  profession  by  a  holy  Hfe,  as  a  Christian, 
and  faithfully  to  fulfil  my  ministry  as  a  clergyman, 
by  doing  all  the  service  I  can  to  the  souls  committed 
to  my  charge." 

Mr.  Wetmore  was  sent  to  New  York,  and  subse- 
quently stationed  at  Rye,  in  that  State,  and  after  a 
faithful  and  most  successful  ministry  of  nearly  thirty- 
seven  years,  he  died  of  the  small-pox  in  1760,  in  the 
sixty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  Dr.  Cutler  followed  him 
to  his  reward  five  years  later,  having  done  good  ser- 
vice for  the  Church  in  Boston,  and  seen  his  own  con- 
gregation, within  three  years  from  the  tune  of  his 
settlement  among  them,  increase  from  four  hundred 
to  seven  or  eight  hundred  persons.  If  it  was  proper 
to  trace  here  any  part  of  the  early  history  of  Episco- 
pacy in  Massachusetts,  much  might  be  said  in  com- 
mendation of  his  unwearied  and  efficient  ministra- 
tions. But  Connecticut  is  our  theme,  and  henceforth 
to  the  history  within  her  borders  attention  will  be 
most  strictly  confined. 

When  Mr.  Johnson  arrived  at  Stratford,  he  found 
the  church,  which  had  been  for  some  time  in  the 
progress  of  building,  not  yet  completed.  It  was  the 
first  edifice  for  the  Church  of  England  erected  in 
the  colony,  and  after  many  hindrances  was  opened 
for  divine  service  on  Christmas  day  1724.  Its  erec- 
tion belongs  to  the  influence  and  ministry  of  his  pred- 
ecessor, who,  in  one  of  his  letters  to  the  Society,  as 
a  reason  for  its  slow  progress,  said,  the  people  "  are 
too  closely  fleeced  by  the  adverse  party  to  carry  it  on 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  53 

with  dispatch."  It  was  described  at  the  time  as  "a 
neat,  small  wooden  building,  forty-five  feet  and  a  half 
long,  thirty  and  a  half  wide,  and  twenty-two  between 
joints,  or  up  to  the  roof";  and  was  built  partly  at  the 
expense  of  the  members  of  the  Church  of  England, 
in  Stratford,  and  "  partly  by  the  hberal  contributions 
of  several  pious  and  generous  gentlemen  of  the  neigh- 
boring provinces,  and  sometimes  of  travellers  who 
occasionally  passed  through  the  town."  Mr.  Pigot's 
record  of  his  ministrations  shows  him  to  have  been  a 
man  full  of  zealous  and  self-sacrificing  labors.  He 
opened  a  Parochial  Register  in  a  good  round  hand, 
which  was  used  by  his  successors  for  many  years 
afterwards,  and  is  still  carefully  preserved ;  and  to  me 
personally  it  is  an  uiteresting  fact,  that  the  first  and  S 
only  entry  made  by  him  under  one  of  the  heads  in  ' 
this  register,  w^as  the  marriage  of  a  kinsman  of  mine  ) 
to  a  descendant  of  Wilham  Jeanes,  a  warden  of  the 
Church ;  and  the  first  entry  under  another  head,  by 
Mr.  Johnson,  Avas  the  baptism  of  a  child,  the  fruit  of 
that  marriage. 

The  successor  of  Mr.  Pigot  accepted  all  liis  mission- 
ary duties  and  trusts  in  Connecticut,  and  cared  for 
the  scattered  families  of  the  Church,  as  he  found 
them  in  Fairfield,  Norwalk,  Newtown,  Ripton,  (now 
Huntington,)  West  Haven,  and  other  portions  of  the 
province.  In  a  letter,  written  to  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don soon  after  arriving  at  his  station,  referring  to  the 
condition  of  the  colony,  and  the  popular  prejudices 
against  the  Church,  he  says :  "  This  is  come  to  pass 
chiefly  in  six  or  seven  towns,  whereof  this  of  Stratr 
ford  where  I  reside  is  the  principal,  and  though  I  am 
unworthy  and  unmeet  to  be  intrusted  with  such  a 


54  HISTORY  OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

charge,  yet  there  is  not  one  clergyman  of  the  Church 
of  England,  besides  myself,  in  this  whole  colony,  and 
I  am  obliged  in  a  great  measure  to  neglect  my  cure 
at  Stratford,  (where  yet  there  is  business  enough  for 
one  minister,)  to  ride  about  to  other  towns,  (some  ten, 
some  twenty  miles  off,)  when  in  each  of  them  there 
is  as  much  need  of  a  resident  minister  as  there  is  at 
Stratford,  especially  at  Newtown  and  Fairfield,  so  that 
the  case  of  these  destitute  places,  as  well  as  of  myself, 
who  have  this  excess  of  business,  is  extremely  un- 
happy and  compassionable."  And  then  he  goes  on 
to  renew  his  entreaty  for  the  apostolic  office,  men- 
tionmg  that  a  considerable  number  of  very  promising 
young  gentlemen,  five  or  six,  and  the  best  educated 
here,  declined  the  ministry,  and  went  into  secular 
business,  because  they  were  "unwilling  to  expose 
themselves  to  the  danger  of  the  seas,"  and  the  terri- 
fymg  fate  of  Mr.  Brown ;  "  so  that,"  he  continues, 
"the  fountain  of  all  our  misery  is  the  want  of  a 
Bishop,  for  whom  there  are  many  thousand  souls  in 
this  country,"  (meaning  all  the  colonies,)  "that  do 
unpatiently  long  and  pra}'',  and  for  want  of  whom  do 
extremely  suffer." 

The  parish  at  Stratford,  when  he  came  to  it,  num- 
bered about  thirty  families ;  and  forty  more  —  to  say 
nothing  of  the  few  churchmen  farther  eastward  — 
might  be  included  in  the  neighboring  towns  and  dis- 
tricts. From  some  of  these  places  very  urgent  appeals 
had  already  gone  over  to  England,  requesting  Chris- 
tian compassion  in  their  behalf  As  early  as  Octo- 
ber, 1722,  in  the  midst  of  the  events  at  Yale  Col- 
lege, which  convulsed  the  whole  colony,  fourteen  sub- 
scribers, inhabitants  of  Newtown,  including  one  from 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  65 

Woodbury,  and  one  from  Chestnut  Ridge,  (Redding,) 
returned  their  most  hearty  thanks  for  the  ministra- 
tions which  Mr.  Pigot  had  introduced  among  them, 
and,  "  being  cordially  inclined  to  embrace  the  articles 
and  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  to  ap- 
proach her  communion,  did  humbly  and  earnestly  re- 
quest the  Honorable  Society  to  send  them  a  lawfully 
ordained  minister."  "We  are,"  said  they,  "heads  of 
families,  and,  with  our  dependents,  shall  appear  the 
major  party  here ;  therefore,  we  intend  to  set  apart  for 
our  Episcopal  teacher,  whenever  it  shall  please  God 
to  insj)ire  your  venerable  body  to  appomt  us  one,  at 
least  two  hundred  acres  of  glebe  for  the  support  of  a 
church  minister  forever." 

The  same  hands  which  carried  this  appeal,  carried 
another,  (dated  All  Saint's  Day,)  from  a  larger  num- 
ber of  subscribers  in  Ripton,  "  of  long  standing,  in- 
clined to  the  Church,"  and  in  which  they  expressed 
a  desire  to  enjoy  a  pastor  of  their  own,  and  a  will- 
ingness to  make  jDrovision  for  his  maintenance.  If 
this  favor  could  not  be  allowed  them,  they  entreated 
the  Society  that  the  Missionaries  settled  at  Stratford 
and  Newtown  —  anticipating  the  appointment  of  one 
to  the  latter  place  —  might  be  instructed  to  officiate 
for  them  as  often  as  every  third  Sunday,  since  they 
are  conveniently  located  between  these  two  stations. 
Among  the  subscribers  in  Ripton  was  the  name  of 
Daniel  Shelton,  a  large  landholder,  and  one  of  the 
little  band  that  welcomed  the  early  visits  of  Muirson 
and  Heathcote,  and  who,  thirteen  years  before,  was 
seized  at  his  residence  and  barbarously  hurried  away 
in  mid-winter  and  lodged  in  the  county  jail  until  he 
should  pay  over  the  amount  levied  by  distress  of  his 


56  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

estate  for  the  support  of  the  Congregational  minister. 
And  there  was  another  name  among  these  subscribers 
(John  Beardsley,  Jr.)  that  bore  abundant  fruit  in 
subsequent  times  for  the  Church,  though  it  shared 
not  precisely  the  same  unchristian  persecution. 

Nathan  Gold,  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  colony 
and  a  mortal  foe  to  Episcopacy,  had  his  seat  in  Fau^- 
field,  and  carried  his  intolerant  spirit  to  such  an  extent 
as  to  propound  to  the  General  Court  a  law  to  confine 
Mr.  Pigot  to  the  exercise  of  his  ministerial  fmictions 
within  the  limits  of  Stratford.  But  the  churchmen  in 
Fairfield  multiplied  notwithstanding  this;  and  chiefly 
through  the  influence  of  the  Society's  Missionary  and 
Dr.  James  Labarie,  a  French  gentleman  and  physician, 
licensed  by  Bishop  Compton  as  a  teacher  and  cate- 
chist,  the  communion  there  promised  to  be  as  large 
as  at  Newtown.  Much  attention  in  several  towns 
was  now  directed  to  the  Church.  Prayer  Books  and 
other  religious  publications  were  circulated,  and  the 
eyes  of  many  were  opened  to  the  great  injustice  of  the 
course  pursued  by  the  more  violent  or  more  rigid  In 
dependents.  Their  fears  were  naturally  awakened  foi 
the  security  of  their  order,  when  they  saw  some  of  its 
prominent  supports  dropping  off;  but  certainly  it  was 
no  way  to  strengthen  it  to  resort  to  persecution.  The 
steady  and  firm  mind  of  Johnson  was  equal  to  the 
emergencies  of  the  time,  and  though  surrounded  on 
all  sides  by  bitter  and  watchful  adversaries,  he  still 
maintained  his  calmness  and  benevolence  of  temper, 
and  mingled  and  conversed  with  those  who  had  for- 
merly been  his  friends,  whenever  they  gave  him  an 
opportunity,  with  frankness  and  Christian  courtesy. 
If  they  publicly  branded  him  with  the  name  of  traitor, 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  57 

and  strove  by  unworthy  acts  to  thwart  his  purposes 
and  render  his  situation  intolerable,  he  preserved  his 
patience,  and  went  on  discharging  his  duties  to  the 
Church,  and  sending  home  frequent  reports  of  his 
hopes  and  encouragements,  of  his  fears  and  suffer- 
ings, and  of  the  trials,  vexations,  and  despondencies 
of  his  people.  In  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Society,  dated  June  11,  1724,  he  spoke  of  having 
jDreached  at  New  London,  where  he  had  sixty  hearers, 
and  where  there  was  a  good  prospect  of  increase,  if 
they  could  be  supplied  with  regular  services.  "  New- 
town," he  added,  "is  distressed  for  a  minister,  their 
teacher  being  quite  beat  out;  and  the  whole  town 
would,  I  believe,  embrace  the  church,  if  they  had  a 
good  minister  at  Fairfield.  I  have  a  va^  assembly 
every  time  I  visit  them,  but  though  I  have  made  all 
proper  and  modest  applications  to  the  government, 
both  privately  and  publicly,  we  have  yet  no  abate- 
ment of  persecution  and  imprisonment  for  taxes, 
which  sundry  people,  and  those  of  both  sexes,  have 
unreasonably  suffered  since  my  last,  and  I  fear  that, 
if  we  can't  have  some  relief  from  the  Honorable 
Society,  people  will  grow  quite  discouraged."  He 
repeated  the  same  fears  to  the  Bishop  of  London  a 
few  days  later ;  but  while  there  was  no  redress  of  the 
grievances  complained  of,  the  Church  continued  to 
advance  and  receive  accessions.  The  Episcopalians 
at  Newtown  and  Ripton,  by  reason  of  the  exactions 
of  the  government,  were  unable  to  offer  sufficient  in- 
ducements to  encourage  the  Society  to  send  them  a 
Missionary.  Besides,  the  Independent  ministers  of  the 
colony,  taking  advantage  of  a  vacancy  in  their  own 
pastorate  at  Newtown,  and  telhng  the  people  that  if 


58  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

the  Church  of  England  were  a  true  church,  and 
thought  bishops  necessary,  they  would  have  sent 
over  one  before  this,  "prevailed  upon  a  very  popu- 
lar, insinuating  young  man  to  go  among  them ;  "  and 
he  ''  pleased  them  so  well,  that  many  of  them,  ini pa- 
tient for  the  ministrations  of  religion,"  and  thinking 
him  favorably  "  affected  towards  the  Church,  because 
he  took  some  of  the  prayers  out  of  the  Liturgy,"  were 
disposed  to  join  in  "  settling  him  with  Presbyterian 
ordination."  We  shall  have  much  to  say  of  this 
"  popular  and  insinuating  3^oung  man "  —  who  was 
none  other  than  John  Beach  —  in  future  chapters. 
But  in  Fairfield,  the  chief  seat  of  opposition  to  Epis- 
copacy, a  small  church  was  built,  which  Vv-as  opened 
by  Johnson  with  divine  services,  in  the   autumn  of 

1725,  though  in  an  unfinished  state,  and  this  was  the 
second  erected  in  the  colony.  Talcott,  the  Governor 
of  Connecticut,  writing  to  the  Bishop  of  London  in 

1726,  in  answer  to  an  inquiry  into  the  true  state  of 
the  Church  in  his  Majesty's  government  in  the  colony, 
treated  slightly  both  the  system  of  taxation  and 
some  of  the  complainants.  "  The  law  of  this  colony," 
said  he,  "is  such,  that  the  major  part  of  the  house- 
holders in  every  town  shall  determine  their  minister's 
maintenance,  and  all  within  the  precmcts  of  the  town 
shall  be  obliged  to  pay  their  parts  in  an  equal  pro- 
portion to  their  estates  in  said  towns  or  societies; 
and  so  in  the  precincts  of  each  ecclesiastical  society. 
Under  this  security,  all  our  towns  and  ecclesiastical 
societies  are  supphed  with  orthodox  ministers.  We 
have  no  vacancies  at  present.  When  the  death  of 
the  incumbent  happens,  they  are  quickly  supplied  by 
persons  of  our  own  communion,  educated  in  our  pub- 
lic schools  of  learning." 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  59 

Governor  Talcott  was  a  Congregationalist,  who  had 
no  deske  to  see  Episcopacy  growing,  or  a  bishop's 
influence  and  prerogatives  estabhshed  in  Connecticut. 
He  took  good  care  to  appear  Kberal,  as  the  laws  stood, 
but  no  effort  for  their  modification  was  promised  or 
intimated.  The  charter  granted  by  Charles  the  Sec- 
ond, and  out  of  which  all  his  authority  flowed,  did  not 
convey  any  right  to  set  up  a  form  of  religion  that 
should  thus  exclude  the  Church  of  England,  and  for- 
ever oppress  her  dutiful  members.  At  least,  it  was 
a  forced  construction  which  the  civil  magistrates  put 
upon  it,  when  they  assumed  the  liberty  to  boast 
themselves  an  establishment,  and  to  treat  the  Chiu'ch 
"as  a  despicable,  schismatical  and  Popish  Commun- 
ion." Surely  the  wrongs  could  not  have  been  slight, 
which  induced  Johnsort  to  begin  a  letter  to  the  Propa- 
gation Society,  in  February  1727,  with  these  words : 
"  I  have  just-  come  from  Fairfield,  where  I  have  been 
to  visit  a  considerable  number  of  my  people,  in  prison 
for  their  rates  to  the  dissenting  mmister,  to  comfort 
and  encourage  them  under  their  suffermgs.  But, 
verily,  unless  we  can  have  relief,  and  be  delivered 
from  this  unreasonable  treatment,  I  fear  I  must  give 
up  the  cause,  and  our  church  must  smk  and  come  to 
nothing.  There  are  thirty-five  heads  of  famihes  in 
Fairfield,  who,  all  of  them,  expect  what  these  have 
suffered ;  and  though  I  have  endeavored  to  gain  the 
compassion  and  favor  of  the  government,  yet  I  can 
avail  nothing ;  and  both  I  and  my  people  grow  weary 
of  our  lives  under  our  poverty  and  oppression." 

Some  months  later,  in  replying  to  several  specific 
inquiries  of  the  Honorable  Society,  he  presented  a 
succinct  view  of  the  history  of  EjDiscopacy  in  Strat- 


GO  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

ford,  from  the  commencement,  and  showed  that  he 
had  then  in  his  parish  fifty  families,  or  about  one 
seventh  of  the  whole  number  of  families  in  the  town. 
The  actual  state  of  the  Church  in  other  parts  of  the 
colony,  and  of  his  own  duties  and  ministrations,  cannot 
be  given  in  briefer  and  more  graphic  language  than  he 
himself  used  in  the  same  sketch  :  "  There  is  no  church 
westward  within  forty  miles,  only  Fairfield,  which 
is  eig-ht  miles  off,  where  there  is  a  small  wooden 
church  built,  and  about  forty  fimilies,  who  hope  for 
Mr.  Caner  to  be  sent  them  from  the  Society;  and 
there  is  no  church  eastward  within  one  hundred  miles, 
only  at  New  London,  about  seventy  miles  off,  where 
I  sometimes  preach  to  a  good  number  of  people,  and 
they  are  building  a  wooden  church  something  larger 
than  ours,  and  hope  for  a  Missionary,  and  have  de- 
sired me  to  recommend  their  case  to  the  honorable 
Society,  that  they  may  be  supplied  as  soon  as  may 
be,  and  there  is  there  a  good  prospect  of  a  large 
increase.  There  is  no  church  northward  of  us  at  all. 
We  lie  upon  the  sea,  (£  e.  the  Sound,)  and  directly 
over  against  us,  southward  on  Long  Island,  lies  Brook 
Haven,  about  twenty  miles  over  the  water,  where 
I  have  often  preached."  This  communication  was 
penned  under  date  of  September  20,  1727. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Church  in  Connecticut  was 
rooted  amid  storms  and  opposition.  It  was  the  tough, 
strong,  sapling  of  the  forest,  which  was  bent  and  borne 
down  by  the  tempest,  but  never  broken  by  its  fury. 
No  schemes  of  her  adversaries  could  crush  out  her 
life;  and  the  good  character  of  those  who  bore  the 
standard  of  apostolic  order  and  faith,  their  piety,  their 
meekness,  their  patient  endurance  of  evils,  were   as 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  61 

sermons  preached  in  the  ears  of  the  constituted  au- 
thorities of  the  land.  The  champions  of  civil  and , 
religious  liberty  —  that  is,  those  who  had  always 
avowed  themselves  to  be  such — undertook  a  profits 
less  task,  therefore,  when  they  attempted  to  set  back 
the  stream  of  inquiry,  or  to  turn  again  into  the  con- 
tracted channel  of  their  own  thoughts  the  minds  that 
had  been  refreshed  at  the  fountains  of  English  theol- 
ogy as  well  as  at 

"  Siloa's  brook  that  flowed 
Fast  by  the  oracles  of  God." 

The  treatment  of  the  first  churchmen  of  Connecticut 
by  the  Puritans  is  a  chapter  which  cannot  be  over- 
looked in  this  history;  for  it  is  an  instructive  com- 
mentary on  the  purity  and  spirituality  of  their  pre- 
tensions, and  on  the  tenderness  of  their  consciences. 
Let  us  thank  God  that  we  live  at  a  period  when  these 
old  prejudices,  with  all  their  sharpness,  are  worn 
away ;  when  religious  persecution  is  unknown ;  when 
more  charitable  feelings  prevail  among  all  Christian 
communions  ;  when  Bishops,  as  successors  of  the  Apos- 
tles, are  loved  and  honored  for  their  godly  works  and 
examples  rather  than  for  their  office ;  and  when,  too, 
the  Church  of  our  affections  is  not,  others  being  judges, 
the  fearful  corrupter  of  "pure  and  undefiled  religion," 
which  she  unfortunately  appeared  to  be  to  the  early 
settlers  and  generations  of  New  England. 


62  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    EFFECT   OF    CANDID    INVESTIGATION,  AND    THE   ENACTMENT 
OF  A  LAW  IN  CONNECTICUT   TO   RELIEVE   CHURCHMEN. 

A.  D.    1727-1729. 

It  is  a  very  common  impression  that  the  first  set- 
tlers of  New  England  emigrated  to  this  country,  not 
only  to  escape  direct  persecution  at  home,  but  to 
establish  here,  in  all  its  freedom  and  fulness,  the  Puri- 
tan faith,  and  to  promote  in  every  possible  way  its 
peculiar  interests.  Under  the  influence  of  such  an 
impression,  questions  like  these  have  sometimes  been 
thrown  out :  "  Why  were  they  not  permitted  to  enjoy 
their  religious  liberty  mthout  molestation  by  the 
Church  of  England?  Why  did  that  hated  hierarchy 
pursue  them  into  this  New  World,  and  seek  to  over- 
throw their  establishment,  and  make  confusion  in 
their  churches,  by  introducing  the  Apostolic  discipline 
and  a  Liturgical  form  of  worship  ?  " 

The  simple  answer  to  these  questions  is,  that  their 
own  men  —  Puritans  by  birth  and  education  —  began 
a  disturbance  of  the  settled  order  of  things,  at  least 
as  far  as  Connecticut  is  concerned.  The  little  de- 
spised band  of  freeholders  at  Stratford  who  first 
professed  their  love  for  Episcopacy,  and  werfe  fed, 
though  fed  but  poorly,  through  the  efforts  of  Heath- 
cote,  by  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gos- 
pel, never  would  have  grown  into  a  formidable  body,  — 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  63 

never  would  have  made  any  progress  in  converting  to 
their  views  the  strong-minded  CongregationalistSj  — 
had  not  Providence  sent  a  spirit  of  inquiry  among 
the  officers  of  Yale  College  and  the  ministers  in  its 
neighborhood. 

Quincy,  in  his  "History  of  Harvard  University," 
referring  to  the  conversion  of  Cutler  and  his  asso- 
ciates, makes  an  assertion  and  a  comment  in  these 
words:  "This  event  shook  Cono-res-ationalism  throuo-h- 
out  New  England  like  an  earthquake,  and  filled  all  its 
friends  with  terror  and  apprehension.  The  effect  of 
the  direct  operations  of  the  'Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gosj)el  in  Foreign  Parts,'  was  seen  and 
recognized  in  these  conversions.  They  had  occurred 
in  Stratford,  or  its  vicinity ;  a  place  in  which  the 
funds  of  the  Society  had  been  most  lavishly  ex- 
pended ;  and  the  fact  that  the  head  of  one  of  the 
most  cherished  seminaries  of  learning  in  New  Eng- 
land had  jdelded  to  its  influence,  Avas  indicative  of  its 
power  and  ominous  of  Episcopal  success."  This  state- 
ment thus  made  is  in  strange  opposition  to  the  facts 
which  have  been  previously  narrated.  It  gives  quite 
too  much  influence  to  the  operations  and  money  of 
the  Society.  At  that  date,  its  "  lavish  expenditures  " 
for  Stratford  consisted  in  having  ]3rovided  for  the  sup- 
port of  Francis  Philips  during  the  five  months  of  his 
irregular  and  unprofitable  ministrations,  and  for  Mr. 
Pigot  who  had  tarried  now  a  shorter  period  before 
proceeding  to  the  mission  at  Providence,  in  Rhode 
Island.  Only  about  four  months  had  elapsed  since  his 
arrival  in  Connecticut;  and  these  gentlemen,  without 
any  prompting  on  his  part,  had  held  a  conference 
with  him  prior  to  their  public  declaration,  and  indi- 


64  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

cated  the  direction  of  their  thoiicchts  and  feelino-s. 
But  long  before  this,  the  light  had  been  gently 
streaming  into  their  minds  through  the  windows  of 
the  College  Library,  and  they  finally  accepted  it,  for 
the  simjDle  reason  that  it  was  no  longer  to  be  resisted. 
Cutler,  at  the  age  of  forty,  with  a  wife  and  seven 
children,  relinquished  the  highest  literary  and  ecclesi- 
astical position  in  the  colony,  and  separated  himself 
from  its  emoluments  and  from  the  association  of  his 
early  friends,  because  his  conscience  would  not  allow 
him  to  remain  outside  of  the  communion  of  the 
Church  of  England.  Johnson  was  equally  pure  and 
conscientious  in  his  motives;  and  so  were  Brown  and 
Wetmore,  and  all  those  who  subsequently  broke  aw\ay 
from  the  ranks  of  Puritanism,  and  firmly  resolved  to 
adopt  the  ancient  form  of  faith,  and  henceforth  to 
w^orship  God  after  the  order  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer. 

The  little  wooden  church  at  Fairfield,  which  had 
been  so  far  completed  as  to  be  opened  with  Divine 
services  in  the  autumn  of  1725,  was  permitted,  two 
years  later,  to  welcome  a  settled  Missionary,  —  the 
Eev.  Henry  Caner,  —  a  graduate  of  Yale  in  the  class 
of  1724,  and  consequently  a  member  of  the  Institu- 
tion while  it  was  under  the  charge  of  Rector  Cutler. 
He  was  a  son  of  Henry  Caner,  the  builder  of  the  first 
college  edifice,  including  a  president's  house,  erected  in 
New  Plaven,  and  whose  name  still  designates  a  water 
locality  (Caner's  Pond)  in  the  northern  borders  of 
New  Haven.  The  father  was  from  England,  where  the 
son  was  born,  according  to  a  statement  of  Dr.  Trum- 
bull ;  and  if  he  was  originally  a  Congregationalist,  he 
early  conformed  to  the  Church,  —  for  he  is  entered 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  G5 

upon  the  list  of  communicants  by  Mr.  Pigot,  in  the 
"Registry  Book"  at  Stratford,  September  2d,  1722, 
and  his  son  is  entered  by  Mr.  Johnson,  March  28th, 
1725,  He  evidently  went  to  that  place  to  com- 
mune—  as  many  churchmen  scattered  in  the  neigh- 
boring towns  were  accustomed  to  do  —  when  the 
only  Episcopal  clergyman  in  the  colony  was  sta- 
tioned there.  He  died  at  the  age  of  sixty;  and  John- 
son came  to  New  Haven,  September  24,  1731,  to 
attend  his  funeral,  as  he  had  been  here  six  years  be- 
fore to  attend  the  funeral  of  Elizabeth  Caner.  It  is 
an  interesting  fact,  that,  after  his  ordination  in  the 
Church  of  England,  so  little  were  the  services  of 
Johnson  called  for  to  baptize,  marry,  or  bury  the 
dead,  in  the  immediate  scene  of  his  early  religious 
struggles,  that  for  more  than  fifteen  years  the  only 
official  acts  of  this  kind  in  New  Haven,  with  one  ex- 
ception, —  of  which  ^  there  is  any  record,  —  were  per- 
formed for  the  Caner  family.  He  appears,  however, 
to  have  been  a  frequent  visitor  at  the  College,  to  have 
interested  himself  in  its  welfare,  and  to  have  rendered 
it  important  aid,  notwithstanding  the  change  in  his 
religious  feelings  and  attitude.  It  was  shortly  after 
the  annual  Commencement  in  1732  that  he  wrote  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Honorable  Society,  using  this 
language  :  "  I  continue  to  preach  wdth  success  at  New 
Haven,  and  I  hope  there  will  be  a  church  there  in 
time ;  though  they  labor  under  great  opposition  and 
discouragements  from  the  people  of  the  town,  who 
will  neither  give  nor  sell  them  a  piece  of  land  for 
them  to  iDuild  a  church  on." 

He  had  previously  written  in  April  of  the  same 
year  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  thus :  "  I  have  lately 


66  HISTORY  OF   THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

been  preaching  at  New  Haven,  where  the  College  is, 
and  had  a  considerable  congregation,  and  among  them 
several  of  the  scholars,  who  are  very  inquisitive  about 
the  principles  of  our  church;  and,  after  sermon,  ten 
of  the  members  of  the  church  there  subscribed  £100 
towards  the  building  a  church  in  that  town,  and  are 
zealously  engaged  about  undertaking  it;  and  I  hope 
in  a  few  years  there  will  be  a  large  congregation 
there." 

Mr.  Johnson  acted  as  the  theological  guide  and 
instructor  of  the  young  men  whose  attention  was 
drawn  to  the  study  of  Divinity  and  Episcopacy;  and 
Henry  Caner,  Jr.,  for  a  period  of  three  years  after 
he  left  college,  lived  under  his  eye, —  and  in  all  this 
time  assisted  him  and  did  good  service  for  the  Church 
at  Fairfield,  in  the  capacity  of  a  catechist  and  school- 
master. When  his  age  would  permit  him  to  receive 
Holy  Orders,  he  embarked  for  England,  and  took  with 
him  a  letter  from  Johnson  to  the  Honorable  Society, 
dated  April  28th,  1727,  in  which  he  spoke  of  the 
"  great  comfort "  it  would  be  to  him  "  in  his  solitary 
neighborhood"  to  have  his  young  friend  appointed  a 
missionary  to  Fairfield,  where  the  churchmen  knew 
his  good  qualities  and  were  ready  to  welcome  him,  as 
their  address,  which  he  enclosed,  would  sufficiently 
show.  He  also  expressed  a  desire,  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  others  who  might  undertake  them,  that  the 
"  Society  would  be  pleased  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
the  voyages  to  England"  for  ordination,  according 
to  a  pledge  previously  given,  and  especially  that 
Mr.  Caner  might  have  the  benefit  of  that  pledge. 
And  then,  with  an  eye  to  his  own  personal  interest, 
he  added,  "I  should  be  very  thankful  if  that  char- 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  67 

itable  order  of  the  Society  might  look  back  with  a 
favorable  aspect  upon  us,  who  first  undertook  this 
difficult  and  dangerous  expedition."  Though  Fair- 
field was  the  chief  seat  of  opposition  to  the  Church 
of  England,  and  honored  with  the  residence  of  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Gold,  — -  its  eminent  persecutor,  — 
yet  there  was  something  in  the  religious  and  public 
affairs  of  the  town  at  this  period  which  assisted  the 
organization  and  gathering  of  an  Episcopal  parish. 
Among  the  manuscripts  on  file  in  the  office  of  the 
Secretary  of  State  at  Hartford,  may  be  found  evi- 
dence that  the  General  Association  of  Cong-reo-ational 
ministers  memorialized  the  Honorable  Assembly  "of 
the  infirmities  of  Rev.  Mr.  Webb,  and  the  present  cir- 
cumstances of  that  Society  of  which  he  is  pastor," 
thinking  the  "  case  called  for  a  speedy  visitation,  and 
that  nothing  less  would  attain  the  end  designed  and 
so  earnestly  to  be  desired  for  that  people  than  an 
act "  "  requiring  that  one  or  more  of  the  ministry  from 
the  several  counties  or  associations  of  this  colony  be 
sent  to  convene  at  Fairfield,  for  the  consideration  of 
their  state  and  the  application  of  proper  expedients 
for  their  united  continuance  in  the  faith  and  estab- 
lished order  of  the  church  of  Christ  in  -this  colony." 
And  thereupon  the  General  Assembly,  under  date 
of  May  14,  1725,  adopted  a  resolve,  "that  Fairfield 
should  call  some  other  orthodox  minister  to  help  Mr. 
Webb,  that  their  sorrowful  and  sinking  circumstances 
might  be  relieved."  The  last  clause  in  this  resolu- 
tion has  been  partially  erased,  but  without  it  there 
is  very  little  force  in  the  response  to  the  memorial 
of  the  association. 

When  Mr.  Caner  arrived  at  his  mission  in  Fairfield 


68  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

late  in  the  autumn  of  1727,  he  found  "the  heavy 
taxes  levied  for  the  supj)ort  of  dissenting  ministers," 
joined  with  voluntary  contributions  for  the  mainten- 
ance of  their  own  services,  so  burdensome  as  to  render 
his  parishioners  almost  incapable  of  carrying  on  and 
completing  their  house  of  worship.  All  they  could 
raise  for  his  personal  support  was  not  above  ten 
pounds  sterling,  and  this,  with  the  addition  of  sixty 
pounds  sterling,  —  the  salary  usually  voted  by  the. 
Society  to  its  Missionaries,  though  in  his  case  the  al- 
lowance does  not  appear  at  first  to  have  been  so  large, 
—  constituted  his  living.  But  his  presence  among  the 
people  freshened  their  zeal,  and  he  sought  out  and 
encouraged  the  churchmen  scattered  in  the  contigu- 
ous villages,  and  penetrated  with  frequent  ministra- 
tions to  Norwalk,  and  even  beyond,  to  Stamford  and 
Greenwich.  In  his  first  report  to  the  Society,  made 
some  three  m'onths  after  his  return  from  England,  he 
speaks  of  "a  village  northward  of  Fairfield,  about  eigh- 
teen miles,  containing  near  twenty  families,  where 
there  is  no  minister  of  any  denomination  whatsoever ; 
the  name  of  it  is  Chestnut  Ridge  (Eedding),  and  where 
I  usually  preach  or  lecture  once  in  three  weeks.  New- 
town, which  is  about  twenty-two  miles  northwest  of 
Fairfield,  Mr.  Johnson  and  I  supply  between  us, — it 
being  equally  distant  from  us."  He  also  visited  Ridg- 
field  and  Danbury,  as  often  as  his  duties  would  per- 
mit, and  stated  that  there  were  in  most  of  these  places 
seven,  ten,  or  fifteen  families  professing  the  Church 
of  England,  and  severely  taxed  for  the  established 
order.  But  his  parishioners  increased  notwithstand- 
ing all  discouragements,  and  he  reported  in  the  same 
letter  an  addition  of  four  families,  one  of  which  was 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  69 

a  Jew,  whose  wife  only  was  a  Christian ;  eighteen  bap- 
tisms, "one  whereof  was  an  Indian;"  and  eight  com- 
municants,—  making  his  whole  number  forty -nine. 
Here  is  evidence  of  strength  almost  equal  to  that  at 
Stratford,  and  no  such  body  of  earnest  men  could  long 
remain  passive  imder  the  exactions  and  illiberality 
of  the  Colonial  government.  They  had  moved  even 
while  Caner  was  on  his  way  to  England  for  ordina- 
tion. The  first  successful  eflbrt  towards  a  mitigation 
of  the  trials  of  churchmen  and  a  redress  of  their  griev- 
ances, came  from  Fairfield.  The  Church-wardens 
and  Vestrymen,  in  the  name  and  l)ehalf  of  all  the 
rest  of  their  l^rethren,  meml^ers  of  the  Church  of 
England  in  that  town,  memorialized  the  General  As- 
sembly, at  its  May  session  in  1727,  as  follows  :  "Where- 
as we  are,  by  the  HonoralDle  Society  in  England  and 
the  Bishop  of  London,  laid  under  obligation  to  pay  to 
the  support  of  the  said  established  church,  and  have 
accordingly  constantly  paid  to  it,  and  been  at  great 
charge  in  building  a  church  for  the  worship  of  God, 
we  pray  this  Assembly  would,  by  some  act  or  other- 
wise, as  your  wisdom  shall  think  fit,  excuse  us  here- 
after from  paying  to  any  dissenting  minister,  or  to 
the  building  of  any  dissenting  meeting-house.  And 
whereas  we  were,  ten  of  us,  lately  imprisoned  for  our 
taxes,  and  had  considerable  sums  of  money  taken 
from  us  by  distraint,  contrary  to  his  Honor  the  Gov- 
ernor's advice,  and  notwithstanding  solemn  promises 
before  given  to  sit  down  and  be  concluded  thereby 
in  this  affair,  we  pray  that  those  sums  of  money  taken 
from  us  may  be  restored  to  us  again.  If  these  griev- 
ances may  be  redressed,  we  shall  aim  at  nothing  but 
to  live  peaceably  and  as  becometh  Christians  among 
our  dissenting  brethren." 


70  HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

Moses  Ward,  the  Senior  "VYarclen  and  first  signer 
to  this  memorial,  "  appeared,  and  by  his  attorney  de- 
clared to  the  Assembly  that  he  should  not  insist  on 
the  return  of  the  money  prayed  for;"  but  asserted 
that  the  Independents  or  Congregationalists  had  "  al- 
ways esteemed  it  a  hardship  to  be  compelled  to  con- 
tribute to  the  support  of  the  Church  of  England, 
where  that  is  the  church  established  by  law ; "  remind- 
ing them  that  they  should  not  exact  from  others  what 
they  had  never  been  willing  to  submit  to  themselves, 
and  urging  also  the  passage  of  some  law  to  oblige 
Episcopalians  to  pay  to  the  support  of  their  own  min- 
isters. The  petition  was  so  far  granted,  that  a  law 
was  enacted,  by  which  all  j)ersons  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  those  of  the  churches  estabhshed  by 
the  Colonial  government,  living  in  the  bounds  of  any 
parish  allowed  by  the  Assembly,  should  be  taxed  by 
the  same  rule  and  in  the  same  proportion  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  ministry  of  said  parish :  But  if  a  society 
of  the  Church  of  England,  with  a  clergyman  settled 
and  abiding  among  its  members,  and  performing  di- 
vine service  for  them,  happened  to  be  so  near  to  any 
who  had  declared  themselves  of  this  church,  that  they 
could  conveniently,  and  did  attend  its  public  worship, 
then  the  collectors  should  deliver  the  taxes  collected 
of  such  persons  to  the  minister  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land living  near  them,  which  minister  should  have 
full  power  to  receive  and  recover  the  same  in  order 
to  his  support  in  his  parish.  But  if  such  proportion 
of  taxes  was  insufficient  to  support  the  incumbent  in 
any  society  of  the  Church  of  England,  the  members 
of  such  society  had  power  to  levy  and  collect  of  them- 
selves greater  taxes,  at  their  own  discretion.     By  the 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  71 

same  enactment,  the  parishioners  of  the  Church  of 
England  were  excused  from  paying  any  taxes  to 
build  meeting-houses  for  the  established  churches  of 
the  colony.  Two  years  afterwards  a  law  was  adopted 
and  proclaimed  by  the  General  Court,  with  similar 
exemptions,  for  the  benefit  of  "soberly  dissenting" 
Quakers  and  Baptists. 

Thus  the  early  churchmen  of  Fairfield,  nearly  one 
hundred  years  after  the  settlement  of  the  colony, 
made  the  first  effectual  effort  towards  the  estabhshment 
of  religious  liberty  in  Connecticut;  but  so  deeply 
and  extensively  was  the  Puritan  principle  implanted 
in  the  breasts  of  the  people,  and  so  thoroughly  were 
the  civil  and  religious  powers  blended  together,  that 
it  required  almost  another  century  to  consummate 
this  effort.  But  the  law,  which  the  constituted  au- 
thorities "in  their  great  wisdom  as  well  as  christian 
compassion "  had  been  pleased  to  provide,  was  found 
insufficient  for  the  relief  sought  after,  and  scarcely 
had  the  year  passed  away,  before  the  Church-wardens 
and  Vestrymen  again  memorialized  the  Assembly  for 
an  explanation  of  their  act,  and  for  permission  to 
govern  their  own  affairs  in  future,  according  to  the 
book  of  canons  in  use  by  the  Church  of  England, 
gathering  all  needful  taxes  by  this  book,  and  not 
through  the  Congregational  collectors.  Disputes  had 
arisen  about  the  meaning  of  the  law,  and  magistrates 
had  put  upon  it  the  construction,  that,  by  "  nearness  " 
to  an  Episcopal  minister  or  church,  was  to  be  under- 
stood a  distance  within  a  mile,  or  two  miles.  This 
construction,  of  course,  excluded  from  its  benefit  a 
large  number  of  the  parishioners  of  both  Caner  and 
Johnson,  in  Fairfield  and  Stratford;  and  as  for  church- 


72  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

men  in  other  towns  of  the  colony,  who  had  no  clergy- 
man of  the  Church  of  England  settled  among  them, 
the  law,  as  far  as  they  were  concerned,  Avas  an  abso- 
lute nuUity,  and  they  were  as  much  «innoyed  and  op- 
pressed as  ever.  The  object  was  to  crush  out  the  life 
of  Episcopacy,  and  discourage  its  further  introduction 
among  the  people,  —  an  attempt  about  as  hopeless  as 
to  think  of  quenching  the  light  of  the  stars  by  enact- 
ing that  they  shall  not  shine. 

It  has  been  said,  as  an  apology  for  this  spirit,  that 
"what  the  Congregational  ministers  and  churches 
most  complained  of  was,  that  New  England  was  rep- 
resented in  the  parent  country  as  destitute  to  a  great 
extent  of  religious  instruction ;  whereas,  they  main- 
tained, that  no  part  of  the  empire  was  better  sup- 
pHed  with  competent  religious  teachers."^ 

It  has  also  been  said,  that,  whenever  a  meeting-' 
house  was  to  be  built,  or  any  extraordinary  expense 
to  be  incurred  by  a  Congregational  society,  those 
opposed  to  the  measure  would  declare  themselves 
Episcopahans  or  Baptists,  and  claim  exemption  by 
law  from  the  payment  of  the  new  tax. 

Governor  Talcott,  in  his  letter  to  the  Bishop  of 
London,  in  1726,  after  mentioning  that  "there  is  but 
one  Church  of  England  minister  in  this  colony,"  went 
on  to  remark :  "  There  are  some  few  persons  in  an- 
other town  or  two,  that  have  stipulated  with  the  pres- 
ent ministers  now  living  in  said  towns,  (which  persons 
cannot  be  much  recommended  for  their  zeal  for  reHg- 
ion  or  morality,)  who  cannot  well  be  judged  to  act 
from  any  other  motive  than  to  appear  singular,  or  to 
be  freed  from  a  small  tax,  and  have  declared  tliem- 

1  Kingsley,  His.  Din.  p.  95. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  7 


Q 


selves  to  be  of  the  Church  of  England ;  and  some  of 
them  that  live  thirty  or  forty  miles  from  where  the 
Church  of  England's  mmister  lives ;  these  have  made 
some  objections  against  their  customary  contribution 
to  their  proper  minister,  under  whose  administration 
they  have  equal  privileges  with  their  neighbors." 

But  the  apologies  thus  offered  b}^  Congregation- 
alists  neither  justify  the  spirit  of  persecution  nor  char- 
itably allow  for  the  conscientious  unpulses  of  "men 
of  like  passions  with  themselves."  Besides,  as  the 
Episcopalians  constituted  but  a  weak  and  slender 
body  in  the  colony  at  that  time,  and  had  the  legal 
power  to  tax  their  own  members,  those  who  joined 
them  certainly  could  not  anticipate  any  real  relief 
from  pecuniary  exactions. 

The  memorialists  assured  the  General  Assembly 
that  they  were  bound  in  their  consciences  to  adhere 
to  the  Church  of  England  in  doctrine  and  discipline, 
let  their  difficulties  be  ever  so  great ;  and,  thanks  be 
to  God,  they  did  adhere,  and  to-day  we  are  reaping 
the  good  fruits  of  their  determination  and  firmness. 
No  explanation  of  the  original  act  was  vouchsafed  by 
the  Assembly,  and  no  further  redress  of  the  griev- 
ances of  churchmen  was  proposed. 

Mr,  Caner,  whose  chain  of  labors  extended  over 
many  towns  in  Fairfield  County,  suggested  a  scheme 
to  secure  the  revenues  properly  belonging  to  him, 
and  yet  comply  with  the  provisions  of  the  law.  It 
was  that  the  Honorable  Society  should  appoint  him, 
under  its  common  seal,  a  "  Missionary  to  serve  from 
Fairfield  to  Byram  river  or  the  borders  of  the  gov- 
ernment westward,"  and  then,  by  a  residence  some- 
times in  one  place  and  sometimes  in  another,  as  the 


74  HISTORY   OF    THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

necessities  required,  the  objection  that  his  parish- 
ioners were  not  near  enough  to  take  advantage  of 
the  law  would  be  set  aside,  and  he  would  thus  receive 
what  they  were  compelled  to  pay  towards  the  sup- 
port of  the  Independent  teachers.  The  Society  ob- 
tained a  legal  opinion  in  England  upon  the  scheme, 
which  was  unfavorable  to  its  adoption;  inasmuch  as 
the  Act  plainly  contemplated  a  permanent  residence 
in  one  place,  and  this  course  might  be  construed  as 
an  attempt  to  evade  its  requirements,  "only  with  a 
view  to  the  secular  advantages  of  particular  persons, 
and  might,  perhaps,  involve  the  church  ministers  in 
greater  trouble,  and  more  to  their  detriment  than 
any  benefit"  to  be  directly  gained.  Nothing,  there- 
fore, was  left  for  the  members  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land but  to  submit  to  their  condition  and  work  pa- 
tiently on  under  their  burdensome  annoyances.  A 
lew  families,  less  able,  or  less  disjDOsed  to  bear  these 
"difficulties  and  oppressions,"  withdrew  from  the 
colony  entirely;  and  eleven,  for  this  reason,  alone, 
are  reported  by  Johnson,  five  years  after  his  arrival, 
to  have  removed  from  Stratford  into  the  more  hb- 
eral  province  of  New  York.  Other  families,  however, 
with  greater  Christian  fortitude,  rose  up  to  take  their 
places,  and  the  two  Missionaries  of  the  Church  in 
Connecticut  continued  their  zealous  and  self-denying 
efforts,  and  fed  and  supported  their  people  at  the 
same  time  with  the  bread  of  life  and  the  hopes  of  a 
day  of  deliverance. 

In  the  autumn  of  1729,  Johnson,  in  a  letter  to  the 
Society,  mentioned  that  he  had  visited  New  London 
and  Westerly  in  Rhode  Island,  besides  Wethersfield, 
on  the  Connecticut  River,  where  a  considerable  num- 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  75 

ber  of  persons  were  subscribing  towards  the  erection 
of  a  church.  The  attempt  in  Wethersfield  proved 
an  abortive  one ;  for  fields  of  fairer  promise  elsewhere 
attracted  the  main  attention  of  the  laborers,  then  few, 
as  in  the  time  of  our  Saviour.  In  the  same  letter  he 
added :  "  I  likewise  still  continue  frequently  to  preach 
at  New  Haven,  Ripton,  and  Newtown,  with  success ; 
though  at  the  last  of  these  places  it  must  be  confessed 
that  the  Dissenters  have  of  late  got  the  advantage 
of  us,  partly  by  the  craft  and  assiduity  of  their  teach- 
ers, and  partly  by  means  of  the  removing  of  a  con- 
siderable man  of  our  church,  (whose  influence  used 
to  be  great  in  that  town,)  from  thence  into  New 
York  government." 


76  HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ARRIVAL  OF  DEAN  BERKELEY  IN  RHODE  ISLAND;  HIS  BENEFAC- 
TIONS TO  YALE  COLLEGE;  AND  NEW  MISSIONARIES  IN  CON- 
NECTICUT. 

A.  D.  1729-1734. 

In  the  beginning  of  1729  an  event  occurred  which 
deserves  to  be  specially  mentioned  in  this  connection, 
because  of  its  influence  upon  the  history  of  learning 
and  religion  in  the  American  colonies.  The  Rev. 
George  Berkeley,  Dean  of  Derry  in  Ireland,  whose 
excellent  character  the  satirist  Pope,  many  years 
later,  drew  m  a  single  line,  when  he  ascribed  to  him 

.  .  .  .  "  every  virtue  under  heaven," 

arrived  at  Newport  in  Rhode  Island,  with  a  charter 
from  the  cro^vn  to  found  a  college  at  Bermuda,  the 
object  of  which  was  declared  to  be  the  instruction  of 
scholars  in  theology  and  literature,  with  a  view  to 
j)ropagate  the  Christian  faith  and  civilization,  not 
only  in  parts  of  America  subject  to  the  British  au- 
thority, but  among  the  heathen.  The  French,  by  the 
treaty  of  Utrecht,  in  1713,  had  ceded  certain  lands  in 
St.  Kitts  to  the  British  crown,  and  the  good  Queen 
Anne  had  designed  these  lands,  to  the  amount  of 
£80,000,  as  a  fund  for  the  support  of  four  Bishops 
in  America;  but  she  died  in  the  next  year,  and  her 
truly  Christian  design  was  forgotten  or  permitted  to 
slumber  in  neglect.     Sir  Robert  Walpole,  first  lord  of 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  77 

the  Treasury  and  prime  minister  in  the  reign  of 
George  the  Second,  after  much  importunity^  on  the 
part  of  Dean  Berkeley  and  his  supporters,  rehictantly 
proposed  to  the  House  of  Commons,  and  the  proposal 
was  accepted,  to  apply  out  of  the  crown  lands  in  St. 
Kitts  £20,000  to  promote  the  object  described  in  the 
Royal  charter  for  the  college  at  Bermuda.  This  al- 
lowance, with  the  noble  subscriptions  of  his  friends, 
and  the  amount  realized  from  his  private  resources, 
was  sufficient  to  inspire  confidence  in  the  success  of 
the  Dean's  enterprise, — an  enterprise  which  he  had 
projected  and  advocated  from  the  first  with  singular 
eloquence  and  enthusiasm,  notwithstanding  constant 
opposition  in  high  places,  such  as  would  have  utterly 
discouraged  a  less  brave  and  cheerful  spirit.  At  the 
summit  of  fame  and  fortune,  an  object  of  attraction 
in  a  society  of  distinguished  and  cultivated  minds, 
he  offered  to  relinquish  his  rich  and  honorable  pre- 
ferment, and  devote  the  remainder  of  his  days,  at  a 
salary  of  £100  per  annum,  to  a  benevolent  work  for 
the  good  of  this  country.  His  arrival  in  Ehode  Island 
was  folloAved  by  the  purchase  there  of  land  at  his  o^vn 
cost,  and  the  erection  upon  it  of  a  farm-house,  where 
he  lived  with  his  family,  regarding  this  as  a  convenient 
spot  from  which  intercourse  might  be  kept  up  with 
the  Bermudas,  and  supplies,  to  a  hmited  extent,  se- 
cured for  the  future  college.  "At  one  time,"  says 
Anderson  in  his  "History  of  the  Colonial  Church," 
"  after  his  arrival  at  Newport,  Berkeley  thought  that 
Rhode  Island  possessed  so  many  more  advantages 
than  the  Bermudas,  that  he  entertained  the  thought 
of  transferring  the  college  thither.  But,  fearing  lest 
this  change  might  throw  some  difficulty  in  the  way  of 


78  HISTORY  OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

receiving  the  promised  grant,  and  for  other  reasons, 
he  judged  it  best  to  adhere  to  the  original  design." 

While  waiting  patiently  for  the  government  money 
before  he  sailed  to  Bermuda  and  entered  upon  the 
further  prosecution  of  his  cherished  scheme,  he  turned 
his  attention  to  severe  mental  studies,  and,  to  use  his 
language,  "  united  in  his  own  person  the  philosopher 
and  the  farmer,  two  characters  not  so  inconsistent 
in  nature  as  by  custom  they  seem  to  be."  His  im- 
mortal work,  entitled  "Alciphron,  or  the  Minute  Phi- 
losopher," —  aiming  at  the  cavils  of  the  prominent 
freethinkers  of  that  day,  some  of  whom  he  had  met 
in  their  clubs,  to  learn  the  current  of  their  thoughts, 
— was  composed  wholly  or  in  part  while  he  enjoyed 
"liberty  and  leisure  in  this  distant  retreat,  far  beyond 
the  verge  of  that  great  whirlpool  of  business,  faction, 
and  pleasure,  which  is  called  the  ivorldr  Whatever 
fears  may  have  arisen  in  his  mind  with  respect  to  the 
cause  of  the  delay  in  transmitting  the  promised  grant, 
it  does  not  appear  that  he  gave  them  utterance,  or 
that  he  believed  it  possible  for  the  government  at  last 
to  violate  its  solemn  pledge.  But  in- trusting  to  such 
a  prime  minister  as  Walpole,  he  was  leaning  upon  a 
broken  reed.  A  sore  disappointment  awaited  him, 
for  the  Bishop  of  London  (Dr.  Gibson),  after  having 
received  many  unsatisfactory  excuses,  begged  the 
favor  of  an  interview  with  the  minister,  that  he  might 
obtain,  for  the  sake  of  Berkeley,  a  definite  answer 
to  his  application  whether  the  grant  would  be  paid. 
The  interview  was  allowed,  and  Walpole  gave  this 
characteristic  reply:  "If  you  put  this  question  to  me 
as  a  minister,  I  must,  and  can  assure  you,  that  the 
money  shall  most  undoubtedly  be  paid  as  soon  as 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  79 

suits  with  public  convenience  ;  but  if  you  ask  me  as 
a  friend,  whether  Dean  Berkeley  should  continue  in 
America,  expecting  the  payment  of  £20,000,  I  advise 
him  by  all  means  to  return  home  to  Europe,  and  to 
give  up  his  present  expectations." 

That  was  the  treacherous  blow  which  felled  to  the 
dust  what  Sir  James  Mackintosh  termed  "  a  w^ork  of 
heroic,  or,  rather,  godlike  benevolence."  It  was  given 
by  the  same  prime  minister  to  whom  belongs  the 
deep  disgrace  of  having  defeated  the  two  noblest 
projects  that  ever  were  formed  for  the  benefit  of  the 
American  Church, — the  one  for  the  erection  of  four 
Bishoprics  in  1713,  and  the  other  for  the  estabhsh- 
ment  of  a  Missionary  College  at  Bermuda  in  1729. 
The  whole  amount  of  eighty  thousand  pounds  arising 
from  the  sale  of  the  crown  lands  in  St.  Kitts,  the  obli- 
gation Avhich  rested  upon  a  part  of  it  having  been  thus 
unjustly  released,  was  bestowed  as  a  marriage  portion 
upon  the  Princess  Royal,  and  so  the  Government, 
for  reasons  of  state,  consented  to  the  robbery  of  the 
Church. 

Dean  Berkeley  had  no  alternative  left  him  but  to 
submit  to  his  disappointment  and  abandon  "a  scheme 
whereon  he  had  expended  much  of  his  private  fortune, 
and  more  than  seven  years  of  the  prime  of  his  life." 
He  embarked  for  his  native  country  in  September, 
1731,  just  three  years  after  his  departure  from  it  for 
Rhode  Island,  not,  however,  without  some  consoMng 
anticipation  of  better  things  for  the  land  where  he 
had  sojourned. 

"  Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes  its  way." 
He  was  welcomed,  upon  his  return,  by  Queen  Caroline, 


80  HISTORY    OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

and  b}^  tlie  great  and  good  of  England ;  and  in  the 
nietapliysical  discussions  carried  on  in  the  court  he 
showed  his  Christian  and  philosophical  mind,  and 
became  "  the  distinguished  coadjutor  of  Sherlock  and 
Smalridge  against  Clarke  and  Hoadley,  touching  the 
principles  of  the  Bangorian  controversy,"  The  influ- 
ence thus  gained  among  those  who  then  occupied  high 
places,  joined  to  his  blameless  and  holy  life,  secured 
him  promotion,  and  he  was  consecrated  in  1734  Eishop 
of  Cloyne  in  Ireland,  a  see  which  he  filled  with  con- 
spicuous honor  to  himself  and  advantage  to  the 
Church.  This  step  on  the  part  of  the  crown  was  some 
atonement  for  the  great  trouble  and  mortification  to 
which  he  had  been  subjected  in  his  scheme  for  a  col- 
leo-e  at  Bermuda. 

o 

But  Berkeley's  sojourn  in  Rhode  Island  was  not 
without  benefit  to  the  Church  in  its  remoter  results. 
He  distributed  among  his  clerical  friends  the  valuable 
books  which  he  brought  over  with  him,  and  "  made  a 
donation  of  all  his  own  works  to  the  library  of  Yale 
College  "  before  he  departed  for  Europe.  In  the  an- 
niversary sermon  which  he  preached  at  London  soon 
after  his  return,  before  the  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  he  gave  his  de- 
liberate testimony  in  favor  of  the  prudence  and  piety 
of  the  missionaries  in  the  New-EuGfland  colonies.  He 
was  the  first  preacher  on  such  an  occasion  who  had 
come  from  an  actual  survey  of  the  distant  fields  of 
duty  and  the  laborers  therein,  and  hence  his  words 
seemed  to  have  the  impress  of  authority  stamped  upon 
them,  when  he  said,  "  I  speak  it  knowingly,  that  the 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  in  those  provinces  which  go 
by  the  name  of  New  England,  sent  and  supported  at 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  81 

the  expense  of  this  Society,  have,  by  their  sobriety  of 
manners,  discreet  behavior,  and  a  competent  degree 
of  useful  knowledge,  shown  themselves  worthy  the 
choice  of  those  who  sent  them,  and  particularly  in 
living  on  a  more  friendly  footing  with  the  brethren 
of  the  separation." 

He  had  been  an  eye-witness  of  the  evil  fruits  which 
sprung  from  seed  sown  in  religious  fanaticism;  and 
after  stating  in  the  same  sermon  that  the  bulk  of  the 
people  whom  he  had  known  in  this  country^  "Hved 
without  the  sacraments,  not  being  so  much  as  bap- 
tized," he  added,  "and  as  for  their  morals,  I  appre- 
hend there  is  nothing  to  be  found  in  them  that  should 
tempt  others  to  make  an  experiment  of  their  prin- 
ciples, either  in  religion  or  government."  Still  he 
had  an  influence  which  was  felt  and  remembered 
among  such  a  people ;  for,  whenever  he  preached,  as 
he  often  did  for  the  Missionary  at  Newport,  he  at- 
tracted large  and  attentive  congregations.  "All  sects," 
we  are  told,  "rushed  to  hear  him;  even  the  Quakers, 
with  their  broad-brimmed  hats,  came  and  stood  in  the 
aisles,"  to  listen  to  this  great  dignitary  of  the  Church 
of  England. 

But  Dean  Berkeley  exerted  another  influence  which 
bore  more  directly  upon  Connecticut.  No  sooner  had 
his  arrival  in  America  been  publicly  announced  than 
Mr.  Johnson,  who  had  read  his  "  Principles  of  Human 

1  "  Bishop  Barkley  saw  very  little  of  New  England,  was  hard'y  ever  off 
Rhode  Island,  never  in  Connecticut ;  nor  at  Boston  till  he  went  thither  to 
take  passage  (or  London.  Accordingly  the  Bishop  confines  the  account 
in  his  sermon  almost  wholly  to  Rhode  Island,  and  I  think  he  describes  it 
very  justly.  He  does  indeed  say  that  some  part  of  his  description  may 
possibly  be  found  to  extend  to  other  colonies."  —  Noah  Hobart's  Second 
Address  to  the  Episcopal  Separation  in  New  England,"  p.  145. 
6 


82     ,  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

Knowledge,"  and  formed  a  high  opinion  of  his  ability, 
paid  him  a  visit,  and  the  acquaintance  begun  with 
this  interview  ripened  into  a  warm  friendship  and 
correspondence,  which  the  distinguished  sons  main- 
tained long  after  the  parents  had  gone  to  their  final 
rest.  In  many  respects  the  minds  of  these  two  divines 
were  similarly  constituted,  and  at  that  period  their 
thoughts  and  studies  were  turned  in  similar  directions. 
It  was  a  bright  spot  in  the  life  of  Johnson  that  he 
was  permitted  for  two  yearg  and  a  half  to  have  fre- 
quent intercourse  with  a  man  of  such  genius,  such 
profound  erudition,  fine  taste,  disinterested  benevo- 
lence, and  withal  consistent  and  devoted  piety.  When 
the  Dean  was  about  to  leave  America,  he  visited 
him  for  the  last  time,  and  ventured  on  that  occa- 
sion to  recommend  to  his  friendly  notice  the  Institu- 
tion for  which  he  still  retained  a  deep  interest  and 
loved  as  a  dutiful  son,  "not  having  any  further  view," 
as  he  himself  notes,  in  his  MS.  autobiography,  "than 
to  hope  he  might  send  it  some  good  books."  He  rec- 
ollected how  largely  he  and  his  brethren  in  former 
years  had  been  profited  by  such  books,  and  he  felt 
that  by  enriching  the  library  of  Yale  College  with 
choice  contributions,  a  like  benefit  would  be  extended 
to  other  generations.  Berkeley  had  already  formed 
a  favorable  opinion  of  the  Institution  from  his  ac- 
quaintance with  some  of  its  chief  managers,  and  upon 
his  return  to  England,  "  assisted  by  several  gentlemen 
who  had  been  liberal  subscribers  to  his  own  intended 
college,"  he  sent  over  nearly  a  thousand  volumes, 
valued  at  about  five  hundred  pounds, — "the  finest  col- 
lection of  books,"  according  to  President  Clap,  "which 
had  then  ever  been  brought,  at  one  time,  to  America." 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  83 

He  also  transmitted  to  Mr.  Johnson  a  deed  conveying 
to  the  Trustees  of  the  same  institution  his  farm  of 
ninety-six  acres  in  Rhode  Island,  which  is  still  desig- 
nated as  the  "Dean's  Farm."  His  special  object  in 
this  grant  was  the  encouragement  of  classical  learn- 
ing,— the  conditions  of  the  deed  being  that  the  net 
income  shall  be  appropriated  to  the  maintenance  of 
the  three  best  scholars  in  Greek  and  Latin,  who  shall 
reside  in  New  Haven  at  least  nine  months  in  a  year, 
in  each  of  the  three  years  between  the  first  and  sec- 
ond degrees ;  the  candidates  annually  sustaining  a 
public  examination  in  the  presence  of  the  senior  Epis- 
copal missionary  within  the  colony.  "This  premium," 
says  President  Clap,  in  his  history,  "has  been  a  great 
incitement  to  a  laudable  ambition  to  excel  in  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  classics."  Johnson  mentions  in  his  auto- 
biography, that  "  the  Trustees,  though  they  made  an 
appearance  of  much  thankfulness,  were  almost  afraid 
to  accept  the  noble  donation."  They  remembered 
how  the  writings  of  some  of  the  best  divines  of  the 
English  Church  had  influenced  a  portion  of  their  schol- 
ars in  times  past,  and  they  could  hardly  persuade 
themselves  that  an  evil  design  was  not  meditated 
under  the  semblance  of  these  benefactions.  But  bet- 
ter counsels  prevailed,  the  books  and  lands  were  re- 
ceived, and  Berkeley  established  a  friendly  corre- 
spondence with  the  authorities,  which  was  continued 
to  the  latest  period  of  his  life.  In  a  letter  written 
July  25,  1751,  less  than  a  year  and  a  half  before  his 
death,  he  speaks  of  the  "  great  satisfaction  "  which  he 
had  derived  in  hearing  through  the  President  "  that 
learning  continues  to  make  notable  advances  in  Yale 
College."     Some  may  have  smiled, 


84  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

"  That  those,  in  him,  themselves  will  glorify, 
Who  reap  his  fields,  but  let  his  doctrine  die." 

It  was  a  singular  mark  of  ingratitude  that,  at  the 
very  next  Commencement  (1734)  after  these  dona- 
tions, Rector  Williams,  then  at  the  head  of  the  Insti- 
tution, and  whom  Johnson  says  he  knew  to  be  "a 
great  enemy  to  the  Church,  and  of  an  insidious  tem- 
per," plotted,  with  certain  ministers  in  Massachusetts, 
under  the  lead  of  his  father,  to  deprive  all  the  Episco- 
pal congregations  here  of  their  pastors,  by  depriving 
the  pastors  of  their  salaries.  This  attempt  was  made 
in  a  letter  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  through  the  hands 
of  Dr.  Colman,  full  of  abuse  and  groundless  com- 
plaints, but  it  failed  for  the  very  sufficient  reason  that 
the  Society  would  not  entertain  these  complaints 
unless  they  were  accompanied  by  proof,  and  the  proof 
which  was  subsequently  offered  was  lighter  than  van- 
ity itself 

A  spirit  of  inquiry  into  the  points  of  Scriptural  dif- 
ference between  Congregationalism  and  the  Church  of 
England  was  well  extended  as  early  as  1730,  through- 
out the  Colony  of  Connecticut.  The  construction  put 
upon  the  law  which  had  been  adopted  for  the  relief 
of  Episcopalians,  forced  them  to  redouble  their  exer- 
tions and  renew  their  appeals  to  the  Society  for  resi- 
dent missionaries.  And  Providence  opened  a  way  to 
satisfy  the  more  urgent  of  these  appeals.  Sundry  "in- 
habitants of  New  London,  Groton,  and  places  adjacent, 
who  had  petitioned  once  and  again"  to  no  purpose, 
renewed  their  requests  in  the  spring  of  this  year,  stat- 
ing that  the  church  which  they  had  erected  at  much 
expense  "continues  shut  up,  to  the  derision  of  its 
enemies,  but  to  our  great  grief  and  discomfort,  with 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  85 

this  only  abatement,  that  it  stands  a  monument  and 
witness  for  us  how  earnestly  we  desire  the  blessing  "  of 
a  pastor.  The  Rev.  James  McSparran,  the  Missionary 
in  the  Narragansett  country,  visited  them  occasionally, 
and  officiated  in  the  church  before  its  completion.  He 
was  the  nearest  Episcopal  clergyman,  and  appears  to 
have  been  instrumental  in  laying  its  foundation;  but 
when,  in  his  work  entitled  "  America  Dissected,"  he 
speaks  of  the  inhabitants  of  Connecticut  and  says,  "  I 
myself  began  our  Church  by  occasional  visits  among 
them  at  a  place  called  New  London,  and  that  has  given 
rise  to  others,  so  that  the  Society  maintain  at  this  day, 
and  in  this  colony,  eight  Episcopal  Missionaries,"  he 
claims  rather  more  than  properly  belongs  to  his  efforts 
or  his  influence.  The  Church  was  not  introduced  into 
Connecticut  from  Rhode  Island,  but  from  the  Prov- 
ince of  New  York,  as  it  has  been  shown  m  a  former 
chapter.  Pigot  and  Johnson,  while  Missionaries  at 
Stratford,  both  visited  New  London  and  preached,  and 
baptized  there  each  a  child,  the  one  a  son  and  the 
other  a  daughter,  from  the  same  family,  and  that,  too, 
prior  to  1725,  the  year  in  which  the  first  movement 
towards  the  erection  of  a  church  was  made.^  Mr. 
Johnson,  in  a  communication  to  the  Society  in  that 
same  year,  speaks  of  having  obtained  "considerable 
subscriptions "  to  build  a  church  in  New  London, 
"and  a  piece  of  land  to  set  it  on," — the  custom  pre- 
vailing in  those  days,  as  it  does  in  these,  to  solicit 

I  April  25th,  1723,  Mr.  Pigot  preached  in  New  London,  and  baptized 
John,  infant  son  of  William  and  Mary  Norton.  October  25,  1724,  Mr. 
Johnson  baptized  in  the  same  town  Sarah,  infant  daughter  of  William 
and  Mary  Norton.  Mr.  Johnson,  in  recording  the  baptism  in  his  Parish 
Register,  makes  this  "  N.  B.  —  Mr.  Talbot  baptized  Lauzerne,  son  ol 
Richard  and  Elizabeth  Wilson,  at  New  London,  Oct.  15,  1724." 


86  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

Christian  charity  from  the  strong  and  rich  in  behalf 
of  the  weak  and  destitute. 

Mr.  Samuel  Seabury,  the  father  of  Bishop  Seabury^ 
a  graduate  of  Harvard  University  in  1724,  to  which 
institution  he  transferred  himself  from  Yale,  after  the 
disturbance  about  Rector  Cutler,  was  born  in  Groton, 
and  was  the  first  preacher  to  "the  Second  Ecclesi- 
astical Society,"  organized  by  permission  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  in  the  north  part  of  that  town.  This 
was  in  1726.  But  after  a  few  weeks,  the  Congrega- 
tional licentiate,  who  had  come  within  the  light  of 
Episcopacy,  gave  up  his  charge  as  stated  supply  in 
North  Groton,  and  finally,  with  letters  dated  in  the 
spring  of  1730,  recommending  him  to  the  notice  of 
Bishop  Gibson,  he  crossed  the  ocean  for  valid  ordi- 
nation, and  appeared  before  the  Society  on  the  21st 
of  August  in  the  same  year.^  The  New  London  peti- 
tioners spoke  of  him  as  "a  gentleman  born  and  bred 
in  this  country,"  and  "therefore  sure  of  a  welcome 
reception  in  whatsoever  vacancy  he  is  sent  to  fill  in 
New  England ; "  and  so  they  begged  with  all  earnest- 
ness that  their  "  destitute  condition  might  come  into 
remembrance  at  the  Board,  when  he  applied  for  a 
mission."  Their  prayer  was  supported  by  the  clergy 
here,  and  granted  by  the  Society.  He  returned  to 
New  London,  arriving  there  December  9th,  1730,  and 
began  his  services  in  the  yet  unfinished  church  to 
about  one  hundred  persons,  of  whom  fourteen  only 
were  communicants.  He  is  recorded  as  having  met 
with  his  parishioners  April  10th,  1732,  when  the  first 
Church-wardens  and  Vestrymen  were  chosen;  and  thus 
the  third  Episcopal  parish,  with  a  house  of  worship  and 

1  Hawkins,  p.  294. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  87 

a  resident  minister,  was  fully  established  in  the  Colony 
of  Connecticut. 

Though  the  number  of  those  who  had  actually  con- 
formed to  the  Church  of  England  was  small  at  this 
period,  still  there  was  a  large  number  that  ventured 
to  look  kindly  on  her  services,  and  the  grosser  attacks 
of  her  enemies  did  not  check  the  disposition  to  hear 
or  read  what  was  spoken  or  published  in  her  defence. 
Johnson,  writing  to  the  Society  in  the  autumn  of  1730, 
after  referring  to  the  increase  of  "a  good  temper 
toward  the  Church,"  added:  "One  thing  I  have  par- 
ticularly to  rejoice  in,  and  that  is,  that  I  have  a  very 
considerable  influence  in  the  college  in  my  neigh- 
borhood ;  and  that  a  love  to  the  Church  gains  ground 
greatly  in  it.  Several  young  men  that  are  graduates, 
and  some  young  ministers,  I  have  prevailed  with  to 
read  and  consider  the  matter  so  far,  that  they  are 
very  uneasy  out  of  the  communion  of  the  Church,  and 
some  seem  much  disposed  to  come  into  her  service ; 
and  those  that  are  best  affected  to  the  Church  are  the 
brightest  and  most  studious  of  any  that  are  educated 
in  the  country," 

John  Pierson  and  Isaac  Brown — brother  of  that 
promising  young  man  who  accompanied  Cutler  and 
Johnson  to  England  for  ordination,  but  died  of  the 
small-pox  before  his  return — graduated  at  Yale  Col- 
lege in  1729;  and  Pierson  is  entered  in  the  Parish 
Register  of  Stratford  as  making  his  first  communion 
on  Christmas  day,  1732.  In  due  time  these  young 
men  went  over  for  Holy  Orders,  but  were  returned 
to  fields  of  missionary  labor  in  other  provinces  than 
Connecticut,^  and  the  name  of  Isaac  Brown  appeared 

I  Pierson  was  at  Salem,  N.  J.,  where  he  died  in  1747. 


88  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

in  the  list  of  the  Society  for  a  full  half  century.  It 
was  considered  a  great  hardship  that  the  candidates 
were  thus  subjected  to  the  peril  and  expense  of  a 
voyage  to  England  to  obtain  what  the  Church  had  a 
right  to  demand  should  be  given  them  here.  The 
want  of  a  resident  Bishop  was  one  mighty  obstacle 
which  stood  in  the  way  of  a  more  rapid  growth.  It 
afforded  occasion  for  the  opposers  of  the  Church  to 
deride  her  members  or  charge  them  with  inconsist- 
ency in  vindicating  a  threefold  ministry  and  Apos- 
tolic order,  while  they  were  practically  without  Epis- 
copal supervision.  It  embarrassed  the  clergy  in  a 
portion  of  their  work ;  so  much  so  that  the  senior 
Missionary  in  the  colony,  in  the  summer  of  1731,  ad- 
dressed the  Bishop  of  London,  and  "humbly  pre- 
sumed to  beg  his  Lordship's  directions"  relative  to 
the  exhortation,  after  baptism,  to  the  sponsors,  re- 
quiring them  to  bring  the  child  to  the  Bishop  to  be 
confirmed.  "Some,"  he  added,  "wholly  omit  this  ex- 
hortation, because  it  is  impracticable ;  others  insert 
the  words,  ('if  there  be  ojDportunity,')  because  our  ad- 
versaries object  to  it  as  a  mere  jest,  to  order  the  god- 
fathers to  bring  the  child  to  the  Bishop,  when"  there 
is  none  within  a  thousand  leagues  of  us,  which  is  a 
reproach  that  we  cannot  answer."  There  was  no  dis- 
position to  vary  from  what  was  wisely  established  at 
home,  except  in  things  confessedly  indifferent  and  cir- 
cumstantial in  their  own  nature,  and  this,  for  the  good 
of  the  cause,  that  the  Missionaries  might  have  less 
occasion  to  employ  themselves  in  pleading  among 
the  people  about  "the  ceremonies  and  constitutions 
of  the  Church,"  and  more  time  to  devote  in  "  advanc- 
ing the  great  essentials  and  vitals  of  rehgion." 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  89 

Early  in  1732  that  "popular  and  insinuating  young 
man,"  whose  settlement  by  the  Independents  at  New- 
town, eight  years  before,  had  been  so  acceptable  to 
all  classes,  publicly  informed  his  people  of  a  change 
in  his  views,  and  declared  his  readiness  to  receive 
orders  in  the  Church  of  England.  Mr.  Johnson  bap- 
tised his  infant  son  in  February,  and  he  himself  is 
entered  as  a  communicant  in  the  Parish  Register  at 
Stratford,  his  native  place,  under  date  of  April  9th  in 
the  same  year,  which  was  Easter  day.  A  sagacious 
Puritan  mother  of  that  time  illustrated  the  ten- 
dency of  candid  inquiry,  when  she  predicted  this  re- 
sult in  her  OAvn  mind,  and  told  her  son,  after  it  was 
accomplished,  that  she  "  knew  Mr.  Beach  would  turn 
churchman,  for  she  never  heard  of  any  one  that  kept 
reading  Church-books,  but  what  always  did."  He  was 
a  graduate  of  Yale  in  1721,  and  cherished  a  high  re- 
spect for  Rector  Cutler,  by  whom,  when  a  boy  at 
Stratford,  his  desire  for  a  classical  education  was  spe- 
cially encouraged.  He  studied  the  great  controversy 
of  the  times  with  the  best  helps  which  he  could  ob- 
tain before  his  settlement;  but  he  reopened  it  with 
Mr.  Johnson,  once  his  college  Tutor,  on  the  occasion 
of  that  gentleman's  periodical  visits  to  Newtown,  and 
made  "the  various  points  of  difference  hitherto  sup- 
posed to  exist  between  them  "  the  "  constant  subjects 
of  inquiry,  reflection,  and  prayer."  Though  much 
esteemed  for  his  scholarship,  piety,  and  zeal,  his  decla- 
ration for  Episcopacy  "was  followed  by  the  display 
of  greater  bitterness  and  violence  among  his  Congre- 
gationalist  neighbors  than  had  been  witnessed  in  any 
of  the  former  instances  of  defection  from  their  ranks." 
Vf  e  shall  reserve  for  another  chapter  a  notice  of  some 


90  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

of  the  pamphlets  published  at  that  period,  rudely  and 
maliciously  attacking  the  Church  in  Connecticut. 

No  one  went  over  from  this  country  recommended 
to  the  Bishop  of  London  for  Holy  Orders  with  better 
testimonials  than  John  Beach.    Johnson  spoke  of  him, 
from  a  long  acquaintance,  as  "  a  very  ingenuous  and 
studious  person,  and  a  truly  serious  and  conscientious 
Christian,"     Besides  these  testimonials,  he  bore  with 
him  a  pe'tition  from  Lemuel  Morehouse  and  others, 
"  members  of  the  Church  of  England  in  Reddinof  and 
Newtown,"  renewing  their  request  for  a  share  in  the 
charities  of  the  Honorable   Society,  and  particularly 
that  Mr.  Beach  might  be  appointed  a  Missionary  in 
the  town  and  vicinity  where  he  Avas  so  well  known 
and  respected  and  beloved.    The  petition  was  granted, 
and  the  usual  allowance  for  salary  appropriated;  but 
upon  his  return  from  England,  in  September  1732,  he 
found  the  affections  of  his  old  parishioners  alienated 
from  him,  and  himself  and  his  plans  for  the  Church  op- 
posed with  increased  rancor.    A  tribe  of  Indians,  three 
miles  distant  from  Newtown,  to  whom  he  was  charged 
by  the  Society  to  extend  his  ministrations,  had  been 
stirred  u])  to  resist  him  and  treat  him  with  indignity 
and  violence,  under  the  ridiculous  plea  that  he  was 
about  to  rob  them  of  their  lands  and  draw  from  them 
money  for  his  support.     But  none   of  these  things 
moved  him  away  from  his  godly  work.    Because  there 
was  no  suitable  place  for  assembling,  he  invited  the 
few  professors  of  the  Church  of  England  to  meet  in 
his   own   house,   where    for   a  considerable   tune  he 
conducted  the  public  services.     "He  pressed  on  with 
resolute  and  cheerful  spirit ;  conciliating  many  of  the 
Indians,  and  gathering  around  him  large  congrega- 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  91 

tions  of  his  own  countrjnuen."  In  his  first  report 
to  the  Society,  made  six  months  after  his  arrival  at 
his  mission,  he  says :  "  I  have  now  forty-four  commu« 
nicants,  and  their  number  increases  every  time  I 
administer  the  Communion."  And  of  his  flock  he 
remarks:  "The  people  here  have  a  high  esteem  of 
the  Church,  and  are  now  greatly  rejoiced  that  they 
have  an  opportunity  of  worshipping  God  in  that  way, 
and  have  begun  to  build  two  small  churches,  the  one 
at  Newtown,  and  the  other  at  Redding."  It  is  said 
that  the  frame  of  the  building  in  Newtown,  twenty- 
eight  feet  long  and  twenty-four  wide,  was  raised  on 
Saturday,  the  roof-boards  jDut  on  the  same  evening, 
and  the  next  day  the  handful  of  churchmen  assembled 
for  divine  service  under  its  imperfect  protection,  sit- 
ting upon  the  timbers  and  kneeling  upon  the  ground. 
Thus  we  have  reached,  in  and  through  the  year 
1734,  the  organization  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  Episco- 
pal parishes  in  Connecticut,  with  church  edifices  and 
settled  ministers.  By  this  time,  the  light  was  again 
streaming  up  from  North  Groton,  in  the  eastern  part 
of  the  State;  for  Ebenezer  Punderson,  the  successor 
of  Samuel  Seabury  in  the  Congregational  ministry 
there,  had  declared  for  Episcopacy,  and  he  was  already 
on  his  way  to  England  for  Holy  Orders,  and  with  a 
petition  to  be  returned  to  the  scene  of  his  former 
labors.  This  change  in  the  sentiments  of  their  pastor 
occurring  for  a  second  time,  was  a  great  discourage- 
ment to  the  North  Society;  and  in  a  memorial  to  the 
General  Assembly,  May,  1734,  asking  that  body  to 
interpose  and  enact  something  for  their  rehef,  men- 
tion is  made  of  their  happiness  under  Mr.  Punderson 
for  about  two  years  and  a  half,  when  "  it  pleased  God 


92  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

in  His  Providence  to  leave  him  to  believe  and  hold 
some  things  they  thought  erroneous,"  and  notwith- 
standing "  many  private  conferences,  associations  and 
counsels  of  reverend  mmisters,"  in  the  neighlDorhood, 
"  together  with  fasting  and  prayers  for  his  recovery," 
Mr.  Punderson  stUl  persisted  in  his  views,  and  "ten 
or  twelve  of  the  people  of  the  parish  and  heads  of 
families  signed  his  paper  and  contributed  money  to 
him  to  bear  his  expenses  to  England"  for  ordination. 
Relieved  of  a  portion  of  his  cares  by  the  appointment 
of  Mr.  Beach  to  the  mission  at  Newtown,  Mr.  John- 
son directed  his  attention  to  other  quarters,  and  in 
the  autumn  of  this  same  year  he  ascended  the  valley 
of  the  Naugatuck  as  far  as  Waterbury,  and  baptized 
an  infant  son  of  Nathaniel  Gunn.  This  was  undoubt- 
edly the  first  instance  in  that  town  of  the  dedication 
of  a  child  to  God  "by  our  office  and  ministry,"  and 
the  first  occasion  on  which  the  forms  of  the  Liturgy 
were  used  there  by  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of 
England. 

Johnson  at  Stratford,  Caner  at  Fairfield,  the  elder 
Seabury  at  New  London,  Beach  at  Newtown  and 
Redding, — four  missionaries,  with  five  houses  of  wor- 
ship,— constituted  the  working  clerical  force  of  the 
Church  in  Connecticut  down  to  the  end  of  the  year 
1734.  The  gain  within  the  last  lustrum  had  been  the 
greatest  in  new  localities  or  stations.  The  rooted  tree 
was  shooting  upward  and  spreading  out  its  salubrious 
branches,  and  many  were  finding  beneath  them  a  kind 
shelter  for  the  refreshment  of  their  weary  souls.  As 
often  as  we  look  back  to  this  day  of  small  things,  and 
contrast  it,  in  no  spirit  of  vain  boasting,  with  the 
fuller  prosperity  of  the  Church  in  these  times,  we  dis- 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  93 

cern  the  footprints  of  the  divine  mercy  marking  a 
perilous  path,  and  recognize  also  the  overruling  Prov- 
idence of  God  in  ordering  and  governing  the  affairs 
of  that  "  kingdom  "  which  "  is  not  of  this  world."  If 
we  have  evils  now  to  contend  with  of  a  nature  to 
cause  us  sleepless  solicitude,  and  if  the  Church,  be- 
cause she  holds  the  truths  of  the  Bible  in  their  mteg- 
rity,  is  to  be  maintained  as  a  bulwark  against  the 
modern  forms  of  popular  error  and  unbeUef,  let  us 
not  forget  the  lessons  of  the  past,  nor  the  battles 
which  were  fought  in  this  colony,  when  our  mustered 
watchmen  on  the  walls  were  fewer  than  the  fingers 
upon  the  right  hand.  When  Gregory  Nazianzen, 
Bishop  of  Constantinople,  bade  adieu  to  his  people 
in  the  great  church  of  St.  Sophia,  before  an  immense 
auditory,  his  last  words  were  :  "  My  dear  children,  pre- 
serve the  Deposihim  of  Faith,  and  remember  the  stones 
which  have  been  thrown  at  me,  because  I  planted  it 
in  your  hearts."  If  w^e  turn  from  "  the  stones  which 
were  thrown  at  them,"  let  us  never  forget  the  reso- 
lute men  who  planted  and  watered  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  Connecticut,  looking  in  sure  faith 
to  God  for  the  increase. 


94  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 


CHAPTER  VII. 

RELIGIOUS  CONTROVERSY;  AND  THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  PARISHES. 

A.  D.  1734-1738. 

Religious  controversy  has  too  often  revealed  the 
bad  passions  of  human  nature.  Conducted  ui  a  spirit 
which  by  no  means  comports  with  the  work  of  our 
Divine  Saviour,  it  has  been  a  fruitful  source  amonor 
Christian  denominations  of  alienation  and  bitterness, 
of  invective  and  reproach.  He  always  gains  an  ad- 
vantage over  his  opponent  in  every  dispute,  who,  con- 
scious of  the  justness  of  his  cause  and  the  strength  of 
his  argument,  preserves  an  equanimity  of  temper,  and 
avoids  the  use  of  harsh  language  and  opprobrious  un- 
christian epithets. 

It  became  necessary  at  an  early  period  to  defend 
the  Church  of  England  in  Connecticut  against  the 
public  attacks  of  her  enemies,  as  well  as  to  be  vigilant 
in  regard  to  their  secret  stratagems.  A  worthy  pa- 
rishioner of  Johnson,  at  Stratford,  had  been  stoutly  as- 
sailed, in  1725,  by  Jonathan  Dickinson,  of  New  Jersey, 
on  the  subject  of  Episcopacy;  and  not  venturing  to 
measure  lances  with  such  an  adversary,  he  made  ap- 
phcation  to  his  pastor  for  the  draught  of  an  argument 
to  meet  this  particular  assault;  which  was  furnished, 
and  which  the  parishioner  sent  in  his  own  name.  It 
brought  forth  a  reply,  and  a  rejoinder  soon  followed. 
At  a  later  date,  Mr.  Dickinson  was  pleased  to  amplify 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  95 

and  put  in  print  his  own  statements,  and  this  of  course 
involved  the  necessity  of  publishing  what  had  been 
written  on  the  other  side.  At  this  stage  of  the  con- 
troversy a  new  champion  stepped  into  the  arena, — 
Mr.  Foxcroft  of  Boston,  —  and  took  up  the  cause 
against  the  Church,  waiting  more  largely  and  artfully 
than  the  zealous  New-Jersey  divine.  But  a  single 
pamphlet  in  reply  from  the  pen  of  Johnson  appears  to 
have  driven  him  entirely  from  the  field.  Fresh  antag- 
onists, however,  frequently  compelled  that  sturdy  de- 
fender of  Episcopacy  to  reoccupy  the  original  grounds 
of  controversy  so  thoroughly  explored  by  him  be- 
fore he  determined  to  withdraw  from  his  Congre- 
gational brethren  and  seek  for  Holy  Orders  in  the 
Church  of  England.  In  1732,  provoked,  no  doubt,  by 
the  recent  declaration  of  Mr.  Beach  at  Newtown,  John 
Graham,  a  Congregational  minister  in  the  south  part 
of  Woodbury,  now  Southbury,  published  a  most  scur- 
rilous and  abusive  ballad,  misrepresenting  and  ridi- 
culing the  Church,  her  practices  and  her  members,  and 
closing  with  these  words,  —  words  too  indicative  of 
the  unhappy  spirit  which  reigned  at  that  period,  — 

"  They  that  do  thus  and  won't  reform  these  evils, 
Are  these  Christ's  Church,  pray,  or  be  n't  they  the  Devil's  ?  " 

William  Beach  of  Stratford,  a  wealthy  gentleman, 
and  brother  of  the  Rev.  John  Beach,  had  been  charged 
with  the  heinous  sin  of  covenantrbreaking,  because  he 
left  the  Congregationalists  and  entered  into  the  com- 
munion of  the  Church;  and  not  willing  to  allow  such 
a  charge  to  go  unnoticed,  he  persuaded  Mr.  Johnson, 
both  for  his  own  defence  and  as  an  antidote  to  the 
maUcious  ballad  of  Graham,  to  draw  up  and  publish 


96  HISTORY   OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

a  tract,  containing  "Plain  Reasons  for  Conforming  to 
the  Church."  Replies  and  rejoinders  followed,  and 
the  controversy  reached  down  to  the  year  1736,  when 
it  was  closed  by  Johnson ;  and  Mr.  Graham  withdrew 
from  a  contest  in  which  he  had  won  no  honors  for 
himself  and  no  advantage  to  his  cause.  The  more 
the  subject  of  Episcopacy  was  publicly  discussed  and 
the  grosser  the  attacks  upon  it,  the  greater  was  the 
increase  in  the  number  of  its  adherents.  Popular  atr 
tention  was  drawn  to  the  Church  of  England  by  the 
animated  controversies  in  which  her  missionaries  were 
involved,  and  the  examination  of  her  doctrines  and 
worship  softened  or  removed  in  many  instances  the 
prejudices  of  early  education.  A  member  of  the  little 
flock  of  Mr.  Beach  at  Newtown,  returning  one  day 
from  service,  accidentally  dropped  her  Prayer  Book, 
which  was  picked  up,  and  pronounced  by  the  person 
into  whose  hands  it  fell  to  be  a  Mass  Maimal,  contain- 
ing very  wicked  things.  Curiosity  was  excited  among 
his  neighbors  to  see  the  heretical  and  extraordinary 
book,  and  several  who  looked  over  its  pages  were  so 
far  from  agreeing  in  opinion  with  him  that  they  found 
it  contained  a  large  portion  of  the  Scriptures,  besides 
several  of  the  excellent  prayers  which  Mr.  Beach  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  using  while  serving  them  accept- 
ably as  a  Congregational  or  Independent  minister. 
The  Society  in  England  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  had  furnished  its  Missionary  in  this  place,  as 
elsewhere,  with  a  number  of  copies  of  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  for  gratuitous  distribution,  and  these 
were  now  put  in  circulation,  and  the  result  was,  that, 
in  the  course  of  twelve  months,  eight  families  were 
added  to  the  Church-  and  as  the  increased  congrega- 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  97 

tion  rendered  a  private  dwelling  inconvenient  to  meet 
in,  an  edifice  for  public  worship  was  called  for  and 
speedily  erected,  as  shown  in  the  previous  chapter. 

In  1736  the  communicants  included  in  the  mission 
of  Mr.  Beach  were  105,  but  he  was  not  permitted 
long  to  enjoy  in  quietness  this  measure  of  prosperity. 
The  Rev.  Jonathan  Dickinson  of  New  Jersey,  the  Pres- 
byterian divine  who  had  before  appeared  as  a  sharp  as- 
sailant of  Episcopacy,  again  took  up  his  pen  to  attack 
the  Church,  and  published  in  this  same  year  a  sermon 
entitled,  "  The  Vanity  of  Human  Institutions  in  the 
Worship  of  God."  It  was  in  the  spirit  and  style  of  sim- 
ilar publications  of  that  day,  and  evidenced  that  the 
author  not  only  misunderstood  or  purposely  misrepre- 
sented the  nature  and  object  of  the  Liturgy,  but  that 
he  fixed  the  sin  of  schism,  the  guilt  of  rending  the 
body  of  Christ,  upon  all  who,  from  any  motive,  were 
led  to  conform  to  the  Church  of  England.  Copies 
were  freely  distributed  in  Newtown  among  all  classes 
of  people,  and  churchmen  found  them  in  their  houses 
without  knowing  the  source  to  which  they  were  in- 
debted for  the  singular  gratuity.  Mr.  Beach  was 
therefore  compelled,  in  self-defence,  to  enter  the  field 
of  controversy,  and  wrote  a  little  pamphlet  called  "A 
Vindication  of  the  Worship  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land," in  which  he  met  all  the  bold  statements  of  the 
sermon,  and  maintained  the  utility  of  forms  of  prayer 
and  their  Scriptural  sanction,  without  considering 
them  as  of  special  divine  appointment.  One  hundred 
pages  in  reply  followed  from  Mr.  Dickinson,  reiterating 
his  former  charges,  and  adding  some  new  "misrepre- 
sentations and  slanders,"  with  a  zeal  which  would  have 
done  credit  to  the  heart  of  a  Puritan  in  the  times  of 

7 


98  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

Oliver  Cromwell.  But  scarcely  had  the  printed  sheets 
become  dry  before  the  Missionary  was  ready  with  an 
Appeal  to  the  ^'^Unprejudiced,"  in  the  course  of  which 
he  made  this  personal  allusion,  by  way  of  justifying 
his  own  withdrawal  from  Independency :  "  I  have 
evened  the  scale  of  my  judgment  as  much  as  possibly 
I  could ;  and,  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge,  I  have 
not  allowed  one  grain  of  worldly  motive  on  either 
side.  I  have  supposed  myself  on  the  brink  of  eter- 
nity, just  going  into  the  other  world,  to  give  up  my 
account  to  my  great  Judge ;  and  must  I  be  branded 
for  an  antichrist  or  heretic  and  apostate,  because  my 
judgment  determines  that  the  Church  of  England  is 
most  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God?  I  can  speak  in 
the  presence  of  God,  who  knows  my  heart  better  than 
you  do,  that  I  would  Avillingly  turn  dissenter  again, 
if  you  or  any  man  living  would  show  me  reason  for 
it.  But  then  it  must  be  reason,  (whereby  I  exclude 
not  the  word  of  God,  the  highest  reason,)  and  not 
sophistry  and  calumny,  as  you  have  hitherto  used, 
that  will  convince  a  lover  of  truth  and  right." 

The  immediate  effect  of  this  jorolonged  controversy 
was  to  double  the  number  of  churchmen  in  NewtoAvn; 
and  in  New  Jersey,  also,  some  thanks  were  due  to  Mr. 
Dickinson  for  the  indirect  benefit  which  he  contrib- 
uted to  the  very  cause  that  he  attempted  to  destroy. 

The  Church  of  England,  in  all  this  time,  was  stead- 
ily gaining  strength  in  other  parts  of  the  Colony  of 
Connecticut.  The  truly  Christian  deportment  of  the 
clergy  recommended  her  doctrines  to  the  people,  and 
many  of  them  would  hear  and  read,  notwithstanding 
the  repeated  warnings  of  the  Congregational  minis- 
ters to  avoid  the  pubhc  services,  the  instructions  and 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  99 

the  books  of  churchmen.  Mr.  Beach  often  officiated 
and  administered  the  sacraments  at  Ridgefield,  dis- 
tant from  his  residence  about  eighteen  miles,  where, 
in  1735,  there  were  nearly  twenty  "families  of  very 
serious  and  religious  people,  who  had  a  just  esteem 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  desired  to  have  the 
opportunity  of  worshipping  God  in  that  way."  At 
New  London  the  usual  attendance  upon  the  stated 
services  of  Seabury  had  greatly  increased,  in  spite  of 
losses  by  death  and  other  causes ;  and  he  had  officiated 
many  times  in  Norwich,  more  frequently  during  the 
absence  of  Mr.  Punderson  in  England  to  obtain  Holy 
Orders,  and  once,  in  mid-summer  of  1735,  he  held  a 
public  service  in  the  town  of  Windham.  Here  a  con- 
gregation of  eighty  people  assembled,  some  of  whom 
lingered  for  hours  after  the  service  was  closed,  seek- 
ing information  in  regard  to  the  Church;  and  having 
obtained  it,  they  confessed  that  her  doctrines  had 
been  sadly  misrepresented,  and  that  henceforth  they 
should  have  a  more  favorable  opinion  of  their  char- 
acter and  tendency.  In  August  of  the  next  year  he 
reported  to  the  Society  his  remarkable  success  at 
Hebron,  an  inland  town,  which  he  had  visited  by  the 
importunity  of  the  people  six  times,  two  of  which 
occasions  had  been  on  Sundays.  More  than  twenty 
families,  there  and  in  the  neighboring  places,  already 
conformed  to  the  Church,  and  he  had  administered  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  to  fourteen  commu- 
nicants. He  was  allowed  afterwards  ten  j)ounds  a 
year  for  such  ministrations,  which  became  stated. 
The  secret  of  this  success  was,  that  a  parish  had  been 
formed  at  Hebron  as  early  as  1734,  when  the  first 
minister  of  the  town,  the  Rev.  John  Bliss,  having  been 


100  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

dismissed  from  his  pastoral  labors  by  an  ecclesiastical 
council,  declared  for  Episcopacy,  and  was  followed  by 
a  nmnber  of  his  warmest  adherents.  A  house  of  wor- 
ship, the  sixth  in  the  colony,  was  erected  the  next 
year,  and  Mr.  Bliss  for  some  time  supplied  them  with 
services  as  a  lay  reader. 

Mr.  Punderson,  who  went  to  England  for  ordination 
in  the  spring  of  1734,  was  returned  by  the  Society 
"as  an  itinerant  Missionary,  to  take  care  of  some 
towns  which  had  petitioned  for  ministers."  North 
Groton  (now  Led^^ard)  and  Norwich  were  especially 
desirous  of  his  services.  His  residence  was  amonsc 
the  same  people  whom  he  had  served  in  the  capa- 
city of  a  Congregational  minister,  and  who  still  re- 
tained for  him  a  strong  personal  affection.  A  parish 
was  soon  organized,  and  a  church  erected  in  North 
Groton,  with  whose  history  that  of  the  present  parish 
at  Poquetannock  is  blended.  His  ministrations  in 
New  London  County  were  abundant;  and  after  the 
removal  of  Mr.  Seabury  to  Hempstead  on  Long  Island, 
he  was  for  a  time  the  only  Missionary  in  that  region, 
and  breasted  bravely  the  storms  of  fanaticism  and  the 
spirit  of  uncharitableness  towards  the  Church,  which 
nowhere  in  the  colony  were  more  furious  and  extrav- 
agant. He  went  beyond  Hebron,  even  to  Middle- 
town,  some  forty  miles  from  his  home,  and,  at  the 
earnest  solicitation  of  a  considerable  number,  held  a 
public  service  there  early  in  the  summer  of  1739, 
and  had  a  congregation  of  nearly  one  hundred  sober- 
minded  people.  While  these  things  were  gomg  on 
in  the  eastern  part  of  Connecticut,  the  churchmen  in 
the  westernmost,  under  Caner  and  Wetmore,  were 
watching  their  opportunities  and  strugglmg  against 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  101 

the  disadvantages  of  their  position.  Those  Uvmg  in 
the  shore  towns,  (Greenwich  and  Stamford,)  nearest  to 
the  Province  of  New  York,  found  it  most  convenient 
to  attend  upon  the  ministrations  of  the  Society's  Mis- 
sionary settled  in  Rye,  and  they  sought,  according  to 
the  tenor  of  the  law  of  this  colony,  to  turn  the  due 
proportion  of  their  taxes  for  the  maintenance  of  re- 
hgious  teachers  to  the  support  of  Mr.  Wetmore,  But 
they  failed  entirely  to  accomphsh  their  object,  even 
though  they  went  so  far  as  to  present  "an  humble 
address  to  the  General  Assembly,  praymg  for  a  redress 
of  this  grievance." 

The  Missionary  at  Fairfield,  worn  down  by  the 
arduous  labors  of  his  extensive  field,  took  a  voyage  to 
England,  with  the  view  of  recruiting  his  exhausted 
powers;  and  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  writmg  to 
Johnson  from  London,  under  date  of  March  9th,  1736, 
said,  "I  wish  Mr.  Caner,  who  has  the  character  from 
you  and  every  one  of  a  very  deserving  man,  might 
acquire  a  better  state  of  health  by  his  journey  hither." 
He  opened  the  same  letter  with  a  graceful  reference 
to  that  important  subject  which  was  never  out  of  the 
minds  of  the  early  clergy  of  Connecticut, — an  Ameri- 
can Episcopate.  "You  needed  no  apology  for  any 
application  you  could  make  to  me  in  relation  to  any- 
tliing  wherein  you  might  think  me  capable  of  serving 
the  Church  in  America.  I  wish  my  capacity  were 
equal  to  my  desire  of  doing  it.  No  one  is  more  sen- 
sible of  the  difficulties  in  general  you  labor  under  in 
those  parts,  and  in  particular  of  those  you  complain 
of  for  want  of  a  Bishop  residing  among  you.  My  own 
interest,  to  be  sure,  is  inconsiderable ;  but  the  united 
interest  of  the  Bishops  here  is  not  powerful  enough 


102         HISTORY  OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

to  effect  so  reasonable  and  right  a  thing  as  the  send- 
ing some  Bishops  into  America."  "  So  reasonable  and 
right  a  thing!"  That  was  well  said;  and  had  not  the 
Church  of  England  been  entangled  with  the  power  of 
the  throne,  or  had  not  the  government  been  merce- 
nary and  afraid  of  taking  any  step  which  might  dis- 
please the  colonies  and  be  supposed  to  interfere  with 
their  temporal  prosperity,  or  lead  to  their  indepen- 
dence, America  would  have  been  favored  with  a 
Bishop  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

Mr.  Caner  was  back  at  his  mission  in  the  autumn  of 
1736,  with  an  improved  state  of  health.  His  brother 
Richard,  who  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  that  year, 
and  became  a  candidate  for  Holy  Orders,  rendered  him 
much  assistance  in  his  duties;  for  besides  teaching  a 
school  in  Fairfield,  he  walked  over  to  Norwalk  on  Sat- 
urday, and  officiated  there  as  a  lay  reader  on  Sunday, 
— using  "a  form  of  prayer  extracted  out  of  the  Church 
Liturgy,  and  some  good  practical  sermon,  or  other 
plain  printed  discourse  of  the  Divines  of  the  Church 
of  England."  The  gradual  growth  of  the  principal 
parish  in  Caner's  mission  —  the  parish  where  he  had 
his  residence  —  led  to  the  measure  of  erecting  a  new 
and  larger  house  of  worship.  The  churchmen  of  Fair- 
field had  purchased,  m  1727,  half  an  acre  of  land  as  a 
glebe,  with  a  house  standing  thereon,  in  the  centre 
of  the  town,  and  had  sent  a  deed  of  it  to  the  Society 
for  Propagating  the  Gospel,  by  the  hands  of  Mr 
Henry  Caner,  when  he  went  to  England  for  ordina- 
tion. It  was  an  object  of  the  Society,  in  all  cases  to 
obtain  from  the  people  pledges  of  glebes  and  other 
means  of  ministerial  support,  as  a  condition  on  which 
its  own  assistance  was  to  be  rendered  and  continued, 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  103 

and  probably  in  no  place  in  the  colony  were  the  do- 
nations more  liberal  than  in  Fairfield.  Men  there 
remembered  the  Church  in  their  wills;  and  Dougal 
McKenzie,  the  father-in-law  of  Rev.  Henry  Caner,  en- 
tailed for  its  benefit  a  levy  upon  the  whole  of  his  real 
estate.  It  is  true,  all  which  was  thus  donated  was 
not  secured;  but  enough  was  secured  to  give  vigor 
to  the  missionary  enterprise  'of  the  Society,  and  to 
gladden  the  hearts  of  churchmen,  at  the  same  time 
that  they  felt  an  abatement  of  the  persecuting  spirit 
and  temper  of  the  people. 

The  old  edifice,  opened  in  1725,  and  which  was  suffi- 
ciently capacious  to  admit  of  galleries  for  a  hundred 
persons  or  more,  had  become,  to  quote  a  unique 
jDhrase  of  that  time,  "  much  too  little  for  the  congre- 
gation," besides  being  "near  a  mile  from  the  centre 
of  the  town."  The  second  church  was  commenced  in 
1738;  and  at  a  town-meeting  held  July  27th  of  that 
same  year,  a  vote  was  adopted  giving  "Hberty  to  the 
members  of  the  Church  of  England"  to  build  it,  upon 
certain  conditions,  "on  the  highway  near  the  Old 
Field  gate,"  about  eighty  rods  from  the  meeting- 
house. With  the  aid  of  donations  from  New  York 
and  the  Society  in  England,  it  was  completed  in  a 
"very  decent  manner";  being  fifty-five  feet  in  length, 
thirty-five  in  breadth,  and  twenty  in  height,  "  with  a 
handsome  steeple  and  spire  of  one  hundred  feet,  and 
a  good  bell  of  five  hundred  weight." 

Thus  the  second  parish  organized  in  Connecticut 
had  so  far  outstripped  in  prosperity  the  mother-church 
at  Stratford  as  to  be  many  years  before  it  in  the  erec- 
tion of  its  second  and  larger  house  of  worship. 

Several   respectable   families   were    added    to   the 


104  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

Church  of  England  at  Norwalk  by  the  occasional  min- 
istrations of  Mr.  Caner,  and  the  whole  number  there 
was  so  great  as  to  warrant  the  organization  of  a  parish 
in  1737,  and  the  building  of  a  small  church  about  the 
same  time.  The  influence  of  his  brother  as  a  lay 
reader  undoubtedly  contributed  to  this  growth;  but 
the  general  attention  to  religion,  awakened  at  that 
period  throughout  New  England,  was  an  advantage 
to  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  a  providence  which  its 
few  clergy,  in  all  missionary  stations,  were  diligent  to 
improve.  Dr.  Trumbull,  in  his  "History  of  Connec- 
ticut," after  speaking  of  the  "dreadful  disease  called 
the  throat  distemper,"  which  was  attended  with  such 
extraordinary  mortality  as  to  sweep  off  suddenly  and 
entirely  many  families  of  children,  thus  introduces  the 
spiritual  condition  of  the  colony : 

"  The  country  was  filled  with  mourners  and  bitter 
affliction.  But  the  people  in  general  continued  se- 
cure. The  forms  of  religion  were  kept  up,  but  there 
appeared  but  little  of  the  power  of  it.  Both  the 
wise  and  foolish  virgins  seemed  to  slumber.  Profess- 
ors appeared  too  generally  to  become  worldly  and 
lukewarm.  The  young  people  became  loose  and 
vicious,  family  prayer  and  religion  were  greatly  neg- 
lected, the  Sabbath  was  lamentably  proflxned;  the 
intermissions  were  spent  in  worldly  conversation. 
The  young  people  made  the  evenings  after  the  Lord's 
day,  and  after  lectures,  the  times  for  their  mirth  and 
company-keeping.  Taverns  were  haunted,  intemper- 
ance and  other  vices  increased,  and  the  spirit  of  God 
appeared  to  be  awfully  withdrawn.  It  seems  also  to 
appear  that  many  of  the  clergy,  instead  of  clearly 
and  powerfully  preaching  the  doctrines  of  original 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  105 

sin,  of  regeneration,  justification  by  faith  alone,  and 
the  other  pecuhar  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  contented 
themselves  with  preaching  a  cold,  unprincipled,  and 
lifeless  morality;  for,  when  these  great  doctrines  were 
perspicuously  and  powerfully  preached,  and  distinc- 
tions were  made  between  the  morality  of  Christians, 
originating  in  evangelical  principles,  faith  and  love, 
and  the  morality  of  heathens,  they  were  offended,  and 
became  violent  opposers. 

"  In  this  state  of  general  declension  and  security  it 
pleased  God,  in  sovereign  mercy,  to  begin  an  extraor- 
dinary work  of  conviction  and  conversion,  such  as  had 
never  been  experienced  in  New  England  before.  It 
began  in  several  places  m  Massachusetts  and  Con- 
necticut as  early  as  the  years  1735  and  1736,  but 
became  more  extraordinary  and  much  more  general 
in  1740  and  1741."  Johnson,  wTiting  to  a  friend  in 
London  early  in  the  autumn  of  1739,  says,  "I  should 
be  glad  to  know  from  you  what  is  the  general  sense 
of  the  clergy  about  Mr.  Whitfield  and  his  proceed- 
ings, of  which  our  ncAvspajDers  are  generally  filled. 
There  has  been  very  much  such  a  stir  among  the 
Dissenters  in  some  parts  of  this  country  as  he  makes 
in  Enii-land." 

The  Church  was  a  gainer  in  those  days  of  religious' 
excitement  by  the  steady  presentation  of  the  truth 
and  the  calm  pursuance  of  her  Scriptural  course, — 
avoiding  on  the  one  hand  the  extreme  of  coldness 
and  indifference,  and  on  the  other  the  heats  of  fa- 
naticism and  uncharitableness.  In  the  year  1736  an 
accurate  inquiry  was  made  into  the  number  of  Epis- 
copal families  in  the  whole  colony,  and  it  was  found 
to  be  about  seven  hundred. 


106  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 


CHAPTER  Vm. 

THE  CHURCHMEN  OF  CONNECTICUT  PETITIONING  FOR  A  REDRESS 
OF  THEIR  GRIEVANCES;  AND  REACTION  OF  PUBLIC  SENTI- 
MENT. 

A.    D.   1738-1740. 

In  1738  "the  members  and  professors  of  the  Church 
of  England,  Hving  m  Connecticut,  being  his  Majesty's 
most  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects,  and  sincerely  well- 
attached  to  the  constitution  of  the  Government,"  as 
"incorporated  by  Royal  Charter,"  humbly  addressed 
the  General  Assembly,  at  its  May  Session,  relative  to 
a  matter  which  they  aj)prehended  to  very  nearly  con- 
cern their  interests  and  welfare.  They  alluded  to 
the  Act  passed  in  1727,  wdiereby  they  were  exempted 
from  contributing  to  the  support  of  the  ministers  of 
the  Congregational  or  Presbyterian  persuasion,  which 
were  those  that  were  peculiarly  countenanced  by  the 
laws  of  the  government,  and  from  paying  towards 
building  meeting-houses;  and  from  thence  they  con- 
cluded, that,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Legislature,  it  was 
"  not  only  not  right  to  compel  people  to  the  support 
of  that  Avorship  and  ministry  from  which  they  solely 
dissented,  but  also  that  it  was  just  and  right  for  every 
one  to  have  the  benefit  of  his  own  way  of  worship, 
and  of  his  own  labor  and  interest  to  support  that  way 
of  worship." 

The  particular  occasion,  therefore,  of  their  humble 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  107 

address  was  this.  An  Act  had  been  passed  in  the  pre- 
vious assembly  held  at  New  Haven,  respecting  the 
seven  towaiships  laid  out  in  the  western  lands  be- 
longing to  Connecticut,  whereby  the  moneys  to  be 
raised  from  the  sale  of  those  lands,  amounting  to 
about  £70,000,  were  appropriated  either  to  the  use 
of  schools  or  to  the  support  of  the  ministers  of  the 
Congregational  or  Presbyterian  persuasion,  to  be  di- 
vided to  the  parishes  in  proportion  to  their  several 
lists,  and  in  such  a  manner  that  the  members  of  the 
Church  of  England  could  lay  no  claim  to  any  share 
for  the  support  of  their  ministers  or  schools ;  and  a 
bill  had  been  prepared  and  passed  m  the  Lower 
House  of  the  same  assembly,  wdiich  might  become  a 
law  by  further  action,  whereby  the  public  moneys 
arising  from  the  Last  Emission  (bills  of  credit)  were 
also  to  be  appropriated  to  the  support  of  the  Con- 
gregational ministers,  and  to  the  utter  exclusion  of 
the  ministers  of  the  Church  of  England.  Something 
of  this  kind  had  been  done  on  a  smaller  scale  in 
the  towns,  and  certain  sequestered  lands  had  been 
sold  for  the  maintenance  of  the  estabhshed  religious 
order. 

The  memorialists  were  so  far  from  envying  their 
Congregational  brethren,  or  wishing  to  hinder  the 
passage  of  measures  in  their  favor,  that  they  heartily 
applauded  the  "good  and  generous  disposition"  of 
the  Assembly ;  but  they  claimed  that  "  it  would  be  a 
manifest  injustice  for  them  to  be  denied  their  share 
in  the  public  moneys  for  the  support  of  their  minis- 
ters"; and  hence  they  recited  no  less  than  seven  rea- 
sons why  the  legislative  action  should  be  altered  or 
amended  so  as  "to  secure  to  them  their  proportion  in 


108         HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

the  said  public  moneys  as  well  as  to  their  brethren  of 
any  other  denomination." 

These  reasons  are  as  interesting  as  they  are  forcible, 
and  ought  to  be  briefly  noted  in  this  place,  as  a  part 
of  the  history  of  the  times. 

The  churchmen,  therefore,  pleaded  for  their  rights, 
to  quote  from  the  language  of  their  memorial, — 

^^  First;  because  the  doctrines  and  principles  of  the 
Church  of  England  do  professedly  and  most  certainly 
tend,  (at  least  equally  with  those  of  any  other  per- 
suasion,) not  only  to  fit  and  prepare  men  for  eternal 
happiness  in  the  life  to  come,  but  also  to  promote  the 
public  good  of  society  in  this  world  by  teaching  them 
to  be  sober,  virtuous,  and  industrious  in  their  callings, 
serious  and  devout  towards  God,  and  just  and  chari- 
table towards  men,  and  in  every  respect  to  be  good 
Christians,  kind  neighbors,  upright  magistrates,  and 
dutiful  subjects. 

^^  Secondly ;  because  the  Church  of  England  is  that 
profession  and  persuasion  which  is  estabhshed  at  home 
in  the  mother- country,  and  which  his  most  sacred 
Majesty  professes,  and  has  bound  himself  by  oath  to 
maintain,  from  whom  the  colonists  received  and  under 
whom  they  held  their  charter  privileges,  and  who, 
therefore,  with  those  in  the  government  and  admm- 
istration  under  him,  would  be  apt  to  resent  any  un- 
equal treatment  which  the  members  of  the  Church 
might  receive  from  the  provinces  abroad  under  his 
dominion  and  protection. 

"  Tliirdly ;  because  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  this 
as  well  as  all  other  governments  depends  upon  the 
union  and  joint  endeavors  of  all  its  members,  in  pro- 
moting one  and  the  same  common  good  and  general 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  109 

interest;  whereas  an  unequal  treatment  of  different 
denominations  of  Christians  is  apt  to  breed  envies, 
animosities,  and  contentions,  necessarily  tending  to 
weaken  authority,  to  destroy  the  public  peace,  and 
to  bring  in  its  train  divers  disadvantages. 

^''Fourthly;  because,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Attorney- 
General  and  Solicitor,  and  other  gentlemen  of  the  law 
at  home,  there  could  be  no  such  thing  as  a  regular 
establishment  of  any  one  denomination  of  Christians 
in  Connecticut,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  rest,  without 
an  explicit  consent  of  the  King's  Majesty. 

"  Fifihli/ ;  because  they  had  equally  a  right  in  equity 
to  their  proportion  in  the  unoccuj)ied  lands  with  their 
brethren  of  any  other  denomination ; "  since  "  all  the 
lands  witliin  the  bounds  of  the  government,  being 
purchased  or  conquered  by  their  common  progenitors 
or  ancestors,  were  by  the  Royal  Charter  ahlve  granted 
and  confirmed,  according  to  their  several  proportions 
of  right,  to  the  whole  corporation,  consisting  of  the 
body  of  the  people. 

'•'^Sixthly ;  because  they  bore  an  equal  proportion  of 
the  public  taxes  for  maintaining  the  government," 
and  it  was  presumable  that  "they  had  a  right  to  an 
equally  proportionable  share  in  the  benefit  accruing 
therefrom  with  those  of  any  other  denomination  in 
accordance  with  that  just  maxim  in  the  law, — Qui 
seniit  onus  sentire  debet  et  commodum; — He  that  feels  a 
share  in  the  burden,  ought  also  to  enjoy  his  share 
in  the  advantage."     And, 

Seventhly  and  lastly,  they  claimed  consideration  be- 
cause the  Act  appeared  to  be  manifestly  inconsistent 
with  the  intent  of  the  law  passed  in  1727,  for  the 
rehef  of  members  of  the   Church  of  England,  and 


110  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

which  exempted  them  from  taxes  for  the  support 
of  Congregationahsm.  It  is  true  that  law,  said  to 
have  been  adopted  at  a  time  when  the  colonists  were 
apprehensive  of  losing  their  charter,  was  strangely 
frustrated ;  and  in  some  places  it  was  contrived  to 
elude  its  intent,  by  comprehending  the  minister's  sup- 
port in  the  town-rate,  and  thereby  obliging  church- 
men to  contribute  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Congre- 
gational pastors  when  they  paid  their  town -rates. 
Still  it  was  some  relief,  and  was  growing  to  be  more 
and  more  so,  as  the  Episcopal  churches  and  mission- 
aries increased. 

The  memorial  thus  earnestly  presented,  and  asking 
equal  privileges  and  protection,  was  signed  by  six 
hundred  and  thirty-six  males,  all  above  sixteen  years  old, 
resident  in  nine  parishes  or  stations,  and  under  the 
charge  of  seven  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England, 
i.  e.,  Johnson,  Caner,  Beach,  Arnold,  Wetmore,  Sea- 
bury,  and  Punderson.  The  consideration  of  the  me- 
morial was  referred  to  the  October  Session  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  when  the  question  was  put  whether 
anything  should  be  granted  on  it,  and  it  was  resolved 
in  the  negative  by  both  Houses. 

So  accustomed  were  they  to  such  refusals,  that  the 
result  appears  neither  to  have  disappointed  the  me- 
morialists, nor  altogether  to  have  disheartened  them, 
for  the  application  was  renewed  by  the  clergy  to  the 
General  Assembly  at  its  May  Session  in  1740;  and 
Johnson,  waiting  to  Bishop  Berkeley  in  June  of  that 
year,  says,  in  reference  to  it,  "  Nothing  has  yet  been 
done ;  next  October  will  be  the  last  time  of  asking, 
but  I  do  not  expect  they  will  finally  grant  our  peti- 
tion.   However,  the  Church  greatly  increases."   When 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  Ill 

October  came,  he  wrote  to  Dr.  Bearcroft,  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Society,  thus:  "The  event  is,  that  rather 
than  let  the  Church  share  in  it,"  (the  amount  arising 
from  the  sale  of  the  seven  new  townships,)  "the  as- 
sembly proposed  to  repeal  that  law  that  vested  the 
several  Dissenting  ministers  in  their  dividend  of  it, 
exclusive  of  the  Church ;  though  I  imagine  they  will 
have  some  contrivance  yet  to  serve  themselves,  and 
exclude  us,  for  the  increase  of  the  Church  in  the 
country  is  very  displeasing  to  those  at  the  helm,  and 
disposes  them  to  distress  us  all  the  way  they  can." 
The  proposition  to  rej)eal  was  adopted,  and  the  pro- 
ceeds of  the  sale  by  a  fonner  Act  went  to  the  main- 
tenance of  popular  education. 

Connecticut  may  well  remember  with  gratitude  the 
vigilance  of  these  early  churchmen  in  preventing  the 
threatened  diversion  to  a  purely  sectarian  jDurpose 
of  what  afterwards  became,  in  each  of  the  towns  in 
the  colony,  a  fund  for  the  benefit  of  schools. 

Jonathan  Arnold,  the  successor  of  Johnson  at  West 
Haven  in  the  Congregational  ministry,  declared  for 
the  Church  of  England  in  1734,  and  was  entered  in 
the  Parish  Register  at  Stratford  as  making  his  first 
communion  on  Easter  day  of  that  year,  April  14th. 
An  infant  son  of  his  was  baptized  into  the  Church 
about  the  same  time ;  and  going  to  England  afterwards 
for  Holy  Orders,  he  was,  at  the  earnest  desire  of  the 
clergy  of  Connecticut,  ordained  and  appointed  an 
Itinerant  Missionary  for  the  colony.  The  Society 
was  at  that  time  pledged  to  the  full  amount  of  its  in- 
come, and  as  Mr.  Arnold  was  possessed  of  some  means 
of  his  own,  he  expressed  his  willingness  to  serve  with- 
out any  stipend  or  remuneration  other  than  the  very 


112  HISTORY  OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

trifling  allowance  afforded  by  the  people.  His  resi- 
dence was  in  West  Haven,  and  the  chief  places  be- 
yond it  w^here  he  most  freqnently  officiated  were 
Derby  and  Waterbury.  In  writing  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Society,  under  date  of  September  22,  1736,  he 
says:  "I  performed  divine  service  la^st  Sunday  at  Mil- 
ford,  one  of  the  most  considerable  towns  in  Connec- 
ticut Colony,  where  the  use  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the 
Creed,  and  the  Ten  Commandments,  or  the  reading 
the  Scripture  in  divine  service,  was  never  before  known. 
There  w^as  a  very  numerous  auditory,  most  attentive 
and  desirous  to  be  instructed  in  the  worshijD  of  the 
Church  of  England ;  but  those  who  are  looking  to- 
wards the  Church  are  commonly  the  poorer  sort  of 
people ;  for  the  staff  of  government  being  in  the 
hands  of  the  Dissenters,  who  rule  the  Church  with  an 
iron  rod,  those  who  receive  honor  one  of  another  set 
themselves  at  a  distance,  and  allow  their  rage  and 
revenge  to  increase  in  proportion  to  the  increase  of 
the  Church." 

If  Johnson  had  previously  held  no  public  service 
in  Milford,  he  had  at  least,  on  three  separate  occa- 
sions, in  1727,  '32,  and  '34,  officiated  in  baptizing  in- 
fant sons  of  the  same  household. 

A  movement  was  made  in  1737  to  build  a  church 
in  Derby,  but  it  appears  not  to  have  been  finished  as 
late  as  1745.  The  means  of  churchmen  were  lim- 
ited, and  aU  progress  in  the  erection  of  houses  of 
worship  was  necessarily  slow.  Sometimes  the  parishes 
were  barely  organized  by  the  Missionaries,  and  left  to 
grow  under  their  infrequent  ministrations,  without 
attempting  to  build;  in  other  words,  left  to  be  saluted 
by  them,  like  "the  brethren"  of  old  "m  Laodicea,  and 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  113 

like  Nymplias,  and  the  church  which  was  in  his  house." 
Hence  we  find  it  stated  that  a  parish  was  formed  at 
North  Haven  in  1723,  and  another  about  the  same  time 
at  West  Haven,  but  no  churches  Avere  built  in  either 
of  these  places  until  many  3^ears  afterwards,  and  no 
records  of  these  early  organizations  can  now  be  traced. 
West  Haven  was  originally  a  part  of  New  Haven,  but 
in  1822  it  was  united  with  North  Milford  to  form  the 
town  of  Orange.  Proceedings  to  erect  an  Episcopal 
church  there  were  begun  during  the  ministry  of  Mr. 
Arnold,  and  the  frame  of  the  edifice  was  raised  in  the 
spring  of  1740,  according  to  an  account  of  the  "Bene- 
factions for  the  Building  of  a  Church  in  West  Haven; 
and  the  Moneys  laid  out  thereon."  This  account  shows 
a  very  liberal  expenditure  for  refreshments  on  that 
occasion,  in  the  shape  of  rum  and  molasses  and  mut- 
ton, and  other  things  deemed  essential,  in  those  times, 
at  such  popular  gatherings.  Mr.  Arnold,  out  of  his 
own  means,  and  with  the  contributions  solicited  from 
friends  of  the  Church  elsewhere,  was  by  far  the  most 
generous  benefactor  to  the  enterprise ;  but  the  edifice 
was  not  completed  during  his  continuance  in  the  mis- 
sion, nor  probably  was  it  made  fit  for  use  as  a  place 
of  puljlic  worship.  When  the  clergy  of  New  Eng- 
land convened  at  New  London  in  May,  1740,  and  sent 
home  to  the  Honorable  Society  a  representation  of 
the  state  and  desire  of  a  consideral>le  number  of 
churchmen  at  Hopkinton  and  the  parts  adjacent,  with 
their  names  appended,  that  of  Jonathan  Arnold  was 
not  among  the  signatures,  because  he  had  left,  or  was 
about  to  leave,  the  colony.  He  attempted  to  get 
possession  of  the  land  whicli  afterwards  became  and 
is  now,  except  the  portion  sold,  the  property  of  Trin- 


114  HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

ity  Parish  in  New  Haven.  This  attempt  was  made 
before  any  steps  were  taken  to  build  a  church  in 
West  Haven,  for  Mr.  Johnson,  writino;  to  Dr.  Astrv, 
under  date  of  November  3,  1738,  says:  "Mr.  Arnold 
lives  about  eight  miles  from  me ;  he  is  well,  and  gives 
his  humble  service  to  you.  He  also  meets  with  very 
injurious  treatment  from  the  people  of  New  Haven, 
where  one  Mr.  Gregson  of  London  gave  him  a  lot  to 
build  a  church  on,  which  had  descended  to  him  from 
an  ancestor  of  his  who  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of 
that  town.  Mr.  Arnold  .went  the  other  day  to  take 
possession  of  it,  and  was  allowed,  without  molestation 
from  the  person  who  had  had  it  in  possession,  to  enter 
upon  it,  and  ploughed  in  it  till  afternoon,  when  he 
was  mobbed  off  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  people.-^ 
This,  with  some  other  affairs,  [may]  oblige  him  to 
take  another  voyage  to  England,  and  I  humbly  hope 
he  mil  meet  with  your  countenance  and  interest." 

1  In  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  A  Vindication  of  the  Bishop  of  Landaff's 
Sermon  from  the  gross  misrepresentations  and  abusive  reflections  con- 
tained in  Mr.  Wm.  Livingston's  Letter  to  his  Lordship,"  published  in 
1768,  the  author,  after  speaking,  on  page  40,  of  the  treatment  of  the 
Society's  Missionaries  in  New  England,  gives  the  following  passage  :  — 
"  Perhaps  Mr.  Livingston  may  remember  some  instances  of  this  himself; 
once,  especially,  in  a  gallant  exploit  performed  by  the  students  of  Yale  Col- 
lege., in  which  he  was  more  than  a  spectator.  The  scene  of  this  nohle  action 
was  a  lot  of  ground  in  the  town  o^  Neio  Haven.,  which  had  been  bequeathed 
to  the  Church  for  the  use  of  a  Missionary.  There  these  magnanimous 
champions  signalized  themselves ;  for  once  upon  a  time,  quitting  soft  dal- 
liance with  tiie  muses,  they  roughened  into  sons  of  Mars,  and  issuing  forth 
in  deep  and  firm  array,  with  courage  bold  and  undaunted,  they  not  only 
attacked,  but  bravely  routed  a  yoke  of  oxkn  and  a  poor  Plowman, 
which  had  been  sent  by  the  then  Missionary  of  New  Haven,  to  occupy  and 
plow  up  the  said  lot  of  ground.  An  exploit  truly  worthy  of  the  renowned 
J/M(/i6ras  himself ! "  The  pamphlet,  though  published  anonymously,  was 
written  by  Dr.  Inglis  of  New  York,  afterwards  first  Lord  Bishop  of  Nova 
Scotia. 


IN   CONNECTICUT,  115 

Writing  again  in  May  of  the  next  year  to  Berkeley, 
Bishop  of  Cloyne,  and  referring  to  the  influence  of 
his  donations  to  Yale,  he  adds:  "I  am  very  sorry  to 
tell  your  Lordship  how  ungrateful  New-Haven  people 
have  been  to  the  Church,  after  so  many  benefactions 
their  College  hath  received  from  that  quarter,  in  rais- 
ing a  mob  and  keeping  Mr.  Arnold  vi  et  armis  from 
taking  possession  of  the  land  (which,  as  I  told  your 
Lordship  in  my  last)  one  Mr.  Gregson  of  London  had 
given  him  (in  trust)  to  build  a  church  on  near  the 
College." 

In  a  letter  to  a  friend  in  London,  (Mr.  Sandford,) 
dated  September  12,  1739,  he  says:  "I  am  obliged  to 
you  for  your  kind  offer  of  your  good  offices  to  Mr. 
Arnold.  That  gentleman  was  disappointed  of  his 
design  of  gomg  last  Fall,  and  now  he  seems  to  decline 
it  on  account  of  the  prospect  of  war,  so  that  it  is  im- 
certain  when  he  will  go."  The  clergy  of  Connecticut, 
previous  to  the  date  of  this  letter,  had  united  in  a 
representation  of  their  grievances,  and  sent  home  the 
complaint  to  the  Society;  and  Mr.  Johnson,  writing 
to  the  Secretary  April  5th,  1740,  refers  to  the  docu- 
ment thus :  "  We  laid  before  the  Society  a  complaint 
last  spring,  of  the  difficulties  we  sustained  from  the 
government  here,  and  Mr.  Arnold  had  leave  to  come 
home  to  support  our  complaint,  which  he  neglected  to 
do,  partly  by  reason  of  the  unsteadiness  of  his  own 
disposition  and  the  uncertainty  of  his  continuance  in 
the  mission  here,  and  partly  because  we  were  flattered 
by  some  of  the  members  of  our  Assembly  that  they 
would  yet  do  something  for  our  relief  This  they  stiU 
give  us  some  hopes  of,  and  we  have  concluded  to  wait 
till  their  next  session  in  May,  in  hopes  that  we  shaU 


116         HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

not  have  occasion  to  trouble  the  Society  any  further 
about  it ;  after  which,  if  nothing  be  done  in  our  favor, 
we  shall,  at  least,  send  to  the  Society  the  proper  mate- 
rials for  the  support  of  our  complaint.  But  since  Mr. 
Arnold  has  left  us,  being  removed  to  Staten  Island, 
it  is  very  uncertain  whether  any  of  us  shall  incline 
to  go  home  on  this  affair.  This  gentleman's  leaving 
his  people  will  cast  a  great  additional  burden  upon 
me,  on  whom  they  will  depend  to  administer  to  them 
till  they  are  supplied  again ;  on  which  account  I  beg 
the  Society  will  favorably  consider  their  address  sent 
last  fall,  and  still  thmk  of  continuing  that  Mission." 

Twelve  days  later,  in  a  communication  to  his 
friend  in  London,  he  notes :  "Mr.  Arnold  has  been 
in  a  very  unsteady  disposition  of  late,  and  is  now 
about  moving  to  Staten  Island,  N.  Y.,  so  that  I  ques- 
tion whether  he  will  go  home  at  all."  He  certainly 
did  not  go  home  from  his  mission  in  the  Colony 
of  Connecticut;  for  Mr.  Johnson,  in  another  letter 
to  Dr.  Bearcroft,  written  in  the  autumn  of  this  same 
year,  after  referring  to  the  old  annoyances  and  diffi- 
culties, says:  "The  unsettled  condition  of  some  of 
our  churches  with  respect  to  their  ministers  is  also 
a  great  disadvantage  to  us.  There  is  now  a  proposal 
that  Mi.  Beach  should  change  with  Mr.  Arnold  and 
go  to  Staten  Island  and  Newark.  He  is  indeed  a  very 
worthy  and  useful  man,  and  nobody  could  do  more 
good  there  than  he,  but  then  the  loss  of  him  would  be 
an  unspeakable  damxage  to  us  here.  Mr.  Morris  is  in 
many  respects  a  gentleman  of  good  accomplishments, 
but  it  does  not  seem  likely  that  he  w^ill  suit  or  be 
suited  with  the  disposition  of  this  country  people,  so 
that  I  much  doubt  whether  he  will  be  happy  in  them 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  117 

or  they  in  him;  and  I  wish  that  he  were  better  pro- 
vided for,  and  that  some  young  man  previously  ac- 
quainted with  the  country,  or  that  could  suit  his  dis- 
position to  it,  w^ere  provided  for  them." 

The  Rev.  Theophilus  Morris,  here  mentioned,  was 
an  English  clergyman  who  succeeded  Mr.  Arnold  in 
the  Mission,  and  had  his  residence  at  West  Haven. 
In  his  first  report  made  to  the  Society,  September  13, 
1740,  he  says:  "I  was  received  by  the  church-people 
wdth  no  small  pleasure,  for,  upon  Mr.  Arnold  leaving 
them,  they  seemed  to  despair  of  having  another  to 
succeed  him ;  beside,  the  Dissenters  used  to  boast 
and  affirm  confidently  that  the  Society  would  never 
send  here  another  Missionarj^,  which  w^as  some  mor- 
tification to  them,  who  are  a  people  not  to  be  despised, 
and  are  ready  enough  to  express  their  gratitude." 
And  farther  on  in  the  same  letter  he  whites:  '"Should 
I  give  you  an  account  of  the  Geography  of  my  mis- 
sion, 3'ou  would  find  it  large  enough  for  a  Diocese ; 
but  I  would  not  be  understood  to  mean  this  hy  way 
of  complaint  of  the  difficulty  and  length  of  the  roads; 
and  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  complain  of  anything,  it 
must  be  of  the  wretched  fanaticism  that  runs  so  hio-h 
in  this  country,  and  a  body  would  be  apt  to  think 
higher  than  it  did  in  England  in  Cromwell's  time, 
which  does  not  so  well  suit  one  of  my  complexion ; 
yet  I  have  been  serviceable  in  the  Church,  and  will 
endeavor  to  be  more  so." 

During  his  ministry  and  that  of  his  successor,  and 
of  course  chiefly  under  their  direction,  the  present 
house  of  worship  in  West  Haven  was  carried  on  to 
completion.  It  was  reported  to  the  Society  as  almost 
finished  in  May,  1745,  and  it  is  remarkable  among  the 


118         HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

Episcopal  churches  of  this  State  as  being  the  oldest, 
and,  except  the  edifice  at  Brooklyn,  the  only  one  now 
standing,  of  those  which  were  erected  in  the  lifetime  of 
him  Avho  has  been  styled  the  "Father  of  Episcopacy  in 
Connecticut."  It  is  a  fair  specimen,  without  the  mod- 
ern improvements,  of  the  architecture  of  the  smaller 
churches  built  in  colonial  times,  and  it  stands  in  the 
village  on  that  very  spot  where  the  piety  of  the  early 
churchmen  placed  it,  surrounded  by  their  graves,  and 
by  the  graves  of  their  "children  unto  the  third  and 
fourth  generation."  The  members  and  professors  of 
the  Church  of  England,  living  in  New  Haven,  went  out 
there  to  attend  the  public  services  on  Sunday  and  at 
other  times,  and  thus  honored  their  Divine  Master, 
and  nurtured  their  conscientious  principles,  until  they 
succeeded  in  building  here  a  church  of  their  own. 

During  the  period  covered  by  this  and  the  preced- 
ing chapter,  churches  have  been  erected  or  com- 
menced in  North  Groton,  Hebron,  Norwalk,  Derby, 
and  West  Haven,  besides  the  second  and  larger  edi- 
fice at  Fairfield,  and  two  Missionaries  have  been  added 
to  the  list  of  the  clerg}^,  making  the  whole  number 
six.  We  look  now  into  the  stormy  times  of  Whit- 
field, but  the  Church  has  become  a  power  in  the 
colony,  and  a  fearless  vindicator,  as  all  along  she 
had  been,  of  a  j^ure  and  Apostolic  faith.  The 
clergy  kept  their  eyes  upon  every  spot  where  fam- 
ilies indicated  a  preference  for  Episcopacy,  and  they 
visited  them,  and  preached  and  baptized  in  their 
houses,  when  no  public  or  "upper  rooms"  could  be 
secured.  In  this  way  those  feelings  of  attachment 
to  the  Church,  which  had  been  revived  in  the  hearts 
of  many  of  the  intelligent  and  thoughtful  laymen  of 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  119 

Connecticut,  were  extended  to  their  neighbors;  and 
as  tlie  months  rolled  on,  lew  demands  were  made 
upon  the  services  and  minis  trations  of  the  clergy,  and 
they  were  called  into  distant  towns  and  villages  to 
cross  some  child  in  Baptism,  or  to  read  over  a  de- 
parted Christian  the  beautiful  Oflice  for  "the  Burial 
of  the  Dead."  The  penal  laws  of  the  colony  were 
enforced  with  the  utmost  rigor,  in  order  to  check  this 
growth  of  feeling  in  favor  of  the  Church ;  but  neither 
fines  nor  imprisonments  were  of  any  avail,  for  the 
consciences  of  men  were  inwrought  with  their  religion, 
and  they  would  believe  and  worship  in  the  light  of 
reason  and  truth  and  Scripture.  No  mantle  is  so 
broad  as  that  of  charity,  and  let  us  confess  that  what 
was  done  by  the  constituted  authorities  of  the  land 
was  not  always  done  in  obedience  to  the  wishes  of 
the  people.  The  reaction  of  public  sentunent  in  many 
places  proved  this,  and  from  the  first  the  Missionaries 
and  the  Congregational  ministers  often  maintained  a 
familiar  intercourse  with  each  other  in  private  life, 
and  showed  on  various  occasions  a  mutual  respect. 
It  was  quite  evident  that  a  feeble  reverence  for  the 
Church  of  England  Ungered  in  the  breasts  of  the  de- 
scendants of  some  of  the  sternest  Puritans.  In  spite 
of  the  political  dissensions  of  the  past,  they  could  not 
altogether  forget  the  land  of  their  ancestors,  and  the 
common  salvation  which  was  there  as  well  as  here. 
They  sympathized  with  the  sentiment  of  the  excel- 
lent Higginson  of  Salem,  when  he  saw  the  shores  of 
his  native  country  receding  from  view,  and  called  his 
children  around  him  on  the  deck  of  the  vessel  to  utter 
these  truthful  and  touching  words:  "We  wiU  not  say, 
as  the  separatists  were  wont  to  say  at  their  leaving 


120 


HISTORY  OF   THE   EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 


of  England, — Farewell,  Babylon!  Farewell,  Rome! 
But  we  will  say.  Farewell,  dear  England!  Farewell 
the  Church  of  God  in  England,  and  all  the  Christian 
friends  there.  We  do  not  go  to  New  England  as  sep- 
aratists from  the  Church  of  England ;  though  we  can- 
not but  separate  from  the  corruptions  in  it ;  but  we 
go  to  practise  the  positive  part  of  Church  reforma- 
tion, and  propagate  the  Gospel  m  America."^ 

1  IMather's  Macjnalia,  Vul.  I.  p.  362. 


CHRIST   CllUnCII,  WEST   HAVEN, 
Erected  iu  1740. 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  121 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ARRIVAL    OF    WHITEFIELD   IN    NEW    ENGLAND,    AND    RELIGIOUS 
ENTHUSIASM. 

A.  D.  1740-1742. 

In  the  autumn  of  1740  the  Hev.  George  Whitefield 
arrived  m  New  England  direct  from  Charleston,  and 
produced  an  excitement  never  before  known  in  our 
religious  history.  He  was  a  clergyman  of  the  Church 
of  England,  ordained,  when  he  was  in  the  22d  year  of 
his  age,  a  Deacon  by  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester.  By 
his  faithful  and  affectionate  ministrations  to  those  who 
were  sick  or  in  prison,  he  so  won  the  heart  of  that 
amiable  prelate,  that,  besides  ordination,  he  gave  him 
"friendly  counsel  from  his  lips,  and  money  from  his 
purse."  In  the  lowest  grade  of  the  ministry,  he  vis- 
ited America,  and  landed  at  Savannah  in  May,  1738^ 
— having  been  attracted  to  Georgia  by  the  account 
which  the  Wesleys  had  given  of  its  great  destitution 
of  spiritual  privileges.  His  wonderful  powers  as  a 
preacher  drew  multitudes  to  hear  him;  and  because 
the  Bishop  of  London  and  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury had  approved  his  zealous  labors,  he  was  at  first 
received  as  an  Episcopal  clergyman,  and  encouraged 
in  his  benevolent  enterprise  of  establishing  an  Orphan 
House  in  Georgia,  ostensibly  upon  the  model  of  that 
founded  by  the  celebrated  Professor  Francke  in  Ger- 
many.    Four  months  after  his  arrival  in  this  country 


122  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

he  felt  himself  "  obliged,"  to  use  his  own  words,  "  to 
return  to  England,  to  receive  Priest's  orders,  and  make 
a  beginning  towards  laymg  a  foundation  for  the  Or- 
phan House."  But  he  was  not  greeted  upon  his  re- 
turn with  the  cordiality  which  he  anticipated.  His 
erratic  course  had  already  begun  to  reveal  itself;  and 
the  extravagance  which  marked  his  movements,  and 
the  manner  in  which  he  spoke  of  the  Church,  whose 
doctrines,  worship,  and  discipline  he  was  ordained  to 
defend,  excited  the  just  suspicions  of  the  Bishops 
and  clergy  in  England,  and  many  of  them  not  only 
refused  him  their  sympathy  and  support,  but  of)enly 
opposed  his  enthusiasm  and  irregularities.  Remon- 
strances and  prohibitions,  however,  availed  not  to 
check  him  in  the  path  which  he  had  chosen.  He  was 
finally  advanced  to  the  Priesthood  by  his  personal 
friend,  (Dr.  Benson,) — the  same  Bishop  who  had 
admitted  him  to  the  Diaconate ;  and  returning  to 
America,  he  travelled  backwards  and  forwards  be- 
tween New  York  and  Philadelphia,  and  Philadelphia 
and  Charleston,  preaching,  when  he  was  not  allowed 
the  use  of  a  church  or  meeting-house,  in  the  open  air, 
—  a  practice  which  he  had  inaugurated  in  England, 
and  justified  by  saying,  "I  thought  it  might  be  doing 
the  service  of  my  Creator,  who  had  a  mountain  for 
his  pulpit  and  the  heavens  for  a  sounding-board,  and 
who,  when  his  Gospel  was  refused  by  the  Jews,  sent 
his  servants  mto  the  highways  and  hedges."  The 
arrival  of  Whitefield  in  Rhode  Island  was  followed 
by  an  enthusiasm  which  spread  like  a  flame  of  fire 
through  the  cities  and  villages  of  New  England. 
Growing  more  bold  under  the  impulse  of  his  successes 
and  excited  feehngs,  he  threw  aside,  as  an  oppressive 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  125 

yoke,  all  reverence  for  the  authority  and  teaching  of 
the  Church  ;  and  thereupon  the  Independent  or 
Congregational  mmisters  opened  wide  their  arms  to 
embrace  him,  and  theu*  sanctuaries  to  admit  him,  that 
he  might  be  heard  by  the  vast  throngs  which  every- 
where crowded  to  their  portals.  With  few  exceptions 
they  invited  him  into  their  pulpits,  —  and  they  could 
not  well  do  otherwise,  for  leading  divines  of  Massa- 
chusetts had  solicited  his  visit,  —  and  people  of  all  de- 
nominations attended  his  preaching,  some  from  curi- 
osity, but  more  from  an  awakened  interest  in  reHgious 
concerns.  As  he  approached  Boston,  he  was  met  on 
the  road  by  the  son  of  the  governor  and  several  minis- 
ters and  other  distinguished  gentlemen,  who  escorted 
him  to  the  city,  and  "  hailed  him  as  a  special  messen- 
ger from  Heaven,  sent  to  awaken,  alarm,  and  convert." 
Here  his  voice  was  lifted  in  all  the  meeting-houses, 
and  sometimes  on  the  Common ;  and  day  after  day  his 
congregations  still  increased,  and  numerous  mstances 
of  remarkable  conversion,  through  his  instrumentality, 
were  reported.  "  It  was  Puritanism  revived,"  said  the 
venerable  Walker  of  Roxbury ;  and  Dr.  Colman  pro- 
nounced the  Sunday  on  which  he  officiated  in  his  own 
pulpit  "  the  happiest  day  he  ever  saw  in  his  life."  At 
Cambridge,  the  seat  of  Harvard  University,  as  else- 
where, the  weak  and  timid  were  excited  and  terrified, 
and  tutors  and  students  shared  m  the  effects  of  his 
bold  theology  and  extraordinary  eloquence.  When 
he  took  his  leave  of  Boston,  it  was  supposed  that 
twenty  thousand  persons  assembled  to  listen  to  his  fare- 
well sermon. 

He  had  heard  in  England  of  Jonathan  Edwards; 
and  having  read  his  narrative  of  the  religious  interest 


124         HISTORY   OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

awakened  in  Nortliamptou  five  years  before,  he  ear- 
nestly desired  an  interview  with  that  eminent  divine, 
and  proceeded  to  visit  him,  leaving  behind,  in  the 
towns  throngh  which  he  passed,  those  surprising  re- 
sults which  had  attended  his  ministrations  in  Boston 
and  its  vicinity.  Late  in  October  of  the  same  year 
he  reached  New  Haven,  and  was  affectionately  wel- 
comed and  entertained  at  the  house  of  Mr.  James 
Pierpont,  a  brother-in-law  of  Edwards,  and  a  sympa- 
thizer with  his  religious  views.  The  General  Assem- 
bly was  then  in  session,  and  Whitefield  improved  the 
occasion  to  fulfil  his  office  of  an  itinerant  preacher,  and 
meet  the  constant  demands  upon  hmi  for  services  and 
sermons.  People  came  m  from  the  country  a  distance 
of  twenty  miles  to  hear  him,  and  many  neighboring 
ministers  also  sought  the  opj)ortunity  of  personal 
intercourse  with  a  clergyman  whose  zeal  and  elo- 
quence were  so  widely  known.  It  is  reported  that 
numbers,  to  his  joy,  were  daily  impressed ;  and  tarrying 
over  the  Sunday,  he  waited  with  courteous  attention 
upon  Talcott,  the  Governor,  who  encouraged  him  with 
the  cheerful  gratulation,  "  Thanks  be  to  God,  for  such 
refreshings  in  our  way  to  heaven." 

On  Monday  morning  he  set  out  upon  his  journey 
southward,  and  preached  with  his  usual  attraction  in 
all  the  "  sea-side  towns"  between  New  Haven  and  New 
York.  Writing  from  Charleston,  in  December,  whither 
he  had  returned,  he  thus  remarked  :  "  It  is  now  the 
seventy-fifth  day  since  I  arrived  at  Rhode  Island.  My 
body  was  then  Aveak,  but  the  Lord  hath  much  re- 
new^ed  its  strength.  I  have  been  enabled  to  preach, 
I  think,  an  hundred  and  seventy-five  times  in  public, 
besides  exliorting  frequently  in  private.     I  have  trav- 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  125 

elled  upwards  of  eight  hundred  miles,  and  have  gotten 
up\Yards  of  seven  hundred  pounds  sterhng,  m  goods, 
provisions,  and  money,  for  the  orphans.  Never  did 
I  perform  my  journey  with  so  httle  fatigue,  or  see 
such  a  continuance  of  the  divine  presence  in  the  con- 
gregations to  Avhom  I  have  preached." 

In  this  Yvdiole  account  of  the  earhest  visit  of  White- 
field  to  New^  England  we  have  inserted  not  a  line  as 
evidence  of  any  public  or  ecclesiastical  disapproba- 
tion. Cautious  divines  of  the  standing  order,  with 
calm  judgment  and  sober  reflection,  might  have  looked 
anxiously  on  and  doubted  the  full  propriety  of  his 
course,  but  no  voice  of  censure  was  raised,  and  it 
hardly  would  have  been  heard  amid  the  excitements 
of  the  hour,  and  the  transports  of  popular  enthusiasm. 
The  sparks  of  religious  discord,  however,  had  been 
kindled,  and  they  soon  burst  forth  into  a  flame  which 
burnt  with  prodigious  fary.  At  first  the  strange  and 
vehement  invectives  of  Whitefield  against  the  Bishops 
and  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  were  welcomed 
and  encouraged  by  the  Independent  ministers  of  Con- 
necticut, as  calculated  to  check  among  their  own 
people  the  growing  attachment  to  her  worship  and 
doctrines.  But  the  extravagant  demonstrations  which 
ensued,  and  the  sobbings  and  swoonings  under  the 
preaching  of  Gilbert  Tennent;  the  many  lay  exhorters 
who  sprang  up,  especially  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
colony,  and  propagated  the  most  "horrid  notions  of 
God  and  the  Gospel";  the  imprudences  and  irregu- 
larities of  James  Davenport,  the  bodily  agitations  and 
outcries  which  he  pronounced  "tokens  of  divine  favor," 
his  attempt  to  examine  his  brethren  in  the  ministry  as 
to  their  spiritual  state,  and  pubhcly  to  decide  whether 


126  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

they  were  converted  or  not;  the  controversies  that 
arose  upon  doctrinal  points,  upon  Calvinism  and  Ar- 
rainianism,  dividing  the  people  into  two  great  parties, 
called  the  New  Lights  and  the  Old  Lights;  the  itiner- 
ant preachers,  who,  without  any  charge  of  their  o^vn, 
or  without  special  invitation,  left  their  appropriate 
spheres  of  duty,  and  went  up  and  down  in  the  land, 
promoting  the  popular  excitement  and  casting  "as- 
persion on  the  schools  of  the  proj)hets";  the  "hideous 
doings"  at  the  night  meetings  of  these  revivalists, 
their  pretended  power  of  reaching  the  human  heart 
by  some  spiritual  process  peculiar  to  themselves,  and 
their  severe  denunciation  of  those  who  opposed  them ; 
all  these  things  turned  the  religious  assemblies  into 
scenes  of  disgraceful  uproar,  generated  strife  in  every 
quarter,  and  bade  defiance  to  the  most  assiduous 
efforts  of  spiritual  or  secular  authority  to  restrain 
them,  so  that  the  regularly  constituted  pastors  soon 
began  to  tremble  for  the  strength  and  security  of 
their  own  prevailing  order.  In  the  midst  of  such 
religious  delirium,  confusion,  and  peril,  the  ministra- 
tions of  the  Church  of  England  were  continued  with 
unabated  zeal  and  steadfastness,  and  many  repaired 
with  gratitude  to  her  communion,  as  to  the  ark  which 
could  alone  carry  them  in  safety  over  the  raging 
floods. 

The  prudence,  the  watchfulness,  and  piety  of  the 
clergy,  and  the  personal  influence  of  Johnson,  still 
the  most  distinguished  among  them,  helped  largely 
to  produce  these  gains  and  advance  the  cause  of  Epis- 
copacy. "The  duties  and  labors  of  my  mission,"  said 
Punderson,  writing  from  North  Groton  to  the  Bishop 
of  London,  towards  the  end  of  1741,  "are  exceedingly 


IN    CONNECTICUT.  127 

increased  by  the  surprising  enthusiasms  that  rage 
among  us,  the  centre  of  which  is  the  place  of  my  resi- 
dence." And  in  the  same  letter  he  added:  "The  most 
astonishing  effects  attend  the  night  meetings ;  screech- 
ings,  faintings,  convulsions,  visions,  apparent  death 
for  twenty  or  thirty  hours,  actual  possession  with  evil 
spirits,  as  they  own  themselves.  The  spirit  in  all  is 
remarkably  bitter  against  the  Church  of  England." 
The  labors  of  that  Missionar}^  became  so  incessant  in 
consequence  of  the  popular  frenzy,  that  at  one  period 
he  was  scarcely  allowed  the  privilege  of  spending  a 
whole  day  in  his  study  or  with  his  family.  Fruits  of 
uncharitableness  and  spiritual  pride  naturally  thrive 
in  such  a  season,  and  the  new-light  preacher  and  his 
followers  m  Groton  declared  Punderson  and  all  those 
under  him  to  be  "unconverted,  and  going  straight 
down  to  hell."  A  like  condemnation  fell  upon  the 
Missionaries  of  the  Church  in  other  quarters.  Even 
so  earnest  and  good  a  Christian  as  Johnson  did  not 
escape  the  harsh  judgment  of  Hezekiah  Gold,  the 
Congregational  minister  at  Stratford,  who  pronounced 
him  and  his  people  unconverted,  and  not  only  so,  but 
intruders  and  workers  of  all  manner  of  mischief  In 
midsummer,  1741,  after  waiting  "a  considerable  time" 
for  a  plain,  personal  admonition  from  the  author  of 
these  charges,  promised  through  a  friend,  Johnson  ad- 
dressed to  him  a  letter,  in  which  these  words  occur:  "I 
thought  it  my  duty  to  write  a  few  lines  to  you  in  the 
spirit  of  Christian  meekness  on  this  subject.  And  I 
assure  you  I  am  nothing  exasperated  at  these  hard 
censures,  much  less  will  I  return  them  upon  you.  No, 
sir!  God  forbid  I  should  censure  you  as  you  censure 
me !     I  have  not  so  learned  Christ !     I  will  rather  use 


128  HISTORY  OF  THE   EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

the  words  of  mj  dear  Saviour  eoncerning  those  that 
censure  so,  and  say,  'Father,  forgive  them,  for  they 
know  not  w^hat  they  do.' "  He  closed  the  letter  by 
asking  for  the  evidence  of  his  not  being  converted, 
saying,  "  Bad  as  I  am,  I  hope  I  am  open  to  conviction, 
and  earnestly  desirous  not  to  be  mistaken  in  an  affair 
of  so  great  importance ;  and  the  rather  because  I  have 
not  only  my  own,  but  many  other  souls  to  answer 
for,  whom  I  shall  doubtless  mislead  if  I  am  misled 
mj^self  In  compassion,  therefore,  to  them  and  me, 
pray  be  so  kind  as  to  give  us  your  reasons  why  you 
think  us  in  such  a  deplorable  condition."  People  with 
their  eyes  open  could  see  that  the  fruits  of  faith,  or 
the  constant  and  beautiful  exemplification  of  Christi- 
anity, was  better  than  any  mere  theories  of  conver- 
sion; and  hence  the  increase  of  the  Missionary's  pas- 
toral charge  in  Stratford  was  a  very  natural  result 
of  the  unhappy  spirit  of  his  restless .  opponent.  The 
anecdote  is  well  authenticated,  that,  meeting  a  parish- 
ioner one  day,  he  was  inquu^ed  of  by  him,  whether 
his  Church  was  mcreasing.  "Yes,"  replied  Johnson, 
"it  is  increasing.  I  am  a  feeble  instrument  in  the 
hands  of  God;  but  thanks  be  to  him,  he  has  placed 
my  left-handed  brother  Gold  here,  who  makes  six 
churchmen  while  I  can  make  one." 

By  this  time  the  rapid  growth  of  Episcopacy  was 
visible  in  several  of  the  interior  towns  of  Connecticut, 
and  the  erection  of  houses  of  worship  was  soon  com- 
menced. The  Bev.  Mr.  Morris,  writing  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Society  from  Derby,  June  20, 1741,  says: 
"I  have  lately  been  at  Simsbury,  where  I  found  about 
thirty  famihes  of  our  communion  ;  they  are  in  hopes 
of  having  a  minister  at  last,  and  have  accordingly 


IN    CONNECTICUT.  129 

prepared  some  timber  to  build  a  church.  I  remitted 
their  rates,  which  amount  to  about  fifty  pounds  of 
this  currency,  to  help  them  forward  with  the  build- 
ing." And  in  the  same  letter  he  speaks  of  having 
"taken  another  church  into  his  care  at  Wallingford, 
which  consists  of  twelve  families.  I  enQ-ao-ed  to  at- 
tend  them  once  a  quarter,  which  they  seem  to  be 
satisfied  with,  for  they  know  it  is  as  much  as  I  can 
do  for  them."  Three  months  before  this  letter  was 
written,  the  members  of  the  Church  of  England  "in- 
habiting in  Wallingford  and  the  adjacent  parts,"  North 
Haven  and  Cheshire,  (the  latter  place  w^as  a  society 
within  the  limits  of  Wallingford  until  1780,)  united 
and  formed  a  parish  by  the  name  of  Union  Church; 
and  in  the  appeal  which  they  sent  over  to  the  Bishop 
of  London  for  assistance  they  stated:  "With  melan- 
choly hearts  we  crave  your  Lordship's  patience,  while 
we  recite  that  divers  of  us  have  been  imprisoned,  and 
our  goods  from  year  to  year  distrained  from  us  for 
taxes,  levied  for  the  building  and  supporting  meeting- 
houses ;  and  divers  actions  are  now  depending  in  our 
courts  of  law  in  the  like  cases.  And  when  we  have 
petitioned  our  governor  for  redress,  notifying  to  him 
the  repugnance  of  such  actions  to  the  laws  of  England, 
he  has  proved  a  strong  opponent  to  us ;  but  when  the 
other  party  has  applied  to  him  for  advice  how  to 
proceed  against  us,  he  has  lately  given  his  sentence 
^  to  enlarge  the  gaol  and  fill  it  with  them.' " 

The  demand  for  more  Missionaries  in  the  Colony  of 
Connecticut  was  urgent  at  this  period.  Caner  early 
wrote,  that  while  the  religious  enthusiasm  had  made 
no  progress   at  Fairfield,  it  had  spread  at  Norwalk, 

Stamford,  Ridgefield,  and  other  places,  and  the  effects 
9 


130  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

of  it  had  been  the  means  of  "reconcihng  many  sober, 
considerate  people  to  the  communion  of  the  Church." 
At  Ridgefield  an  edifice  for  public  worship  was  built 
as  early  as  1744. 

In  the  autumn  of  1741,  Mr.  Richard  Caner,  his 
brother,  who  has  already  been  mentioned  as  doing 
good  service  for  the  Church  at  Norwalk  in  the  capa- 
city of  a  lay  reader,  went  over  to  England  for  ordina- 
tion, and  among  the  letters  which  he  bore  with  him 
was  one  from  Johnson,  recommending  him  to  the  favor 
of  Berkeley,  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  and  in  which  he  took 
occasion  to  speak  of  "the  accession  of  the  new  Rector" 
of  Yale  College,  Mr.  Clap,  and  to  compliment  him  as 
"a  solid,  rational  gentleman,  much  freer  from  bigotry 
than  his  predecessor."  Referring  to  the  enthusiasm 
consequent  upon  the  preaching  of  Whitefield  and  his 
disciples,  he  added:  "Many  of  the  scholars  have  been 
possessed  of  it,  and  two  of  this  year's  candidates  de- 
nied their  degrees  for  their  disorderly  and  restless 
endeavors  to  propagate  it.  Indeed,  Whitefield's  dis- 
ciples in  this  country  have  much  improved  upon  the 
foundation  which  he  laid ;  so  that  we  have  now  -pre- 
vailing  among  us  the  most  odd  and  unaccountable 
enthusiasm  that  ever  obtained  in  any  age  or  nation." 

The  few  churchmen  in  Waterbury,  Avho  for  many 
years,  in  addition  to  the  labors  of  the  itinerant  Mis- 
sionaries Arnold  and  Morris,  were  fed  and  cared  for 
by  Johnson  and  Beach,  had  become  so  numerous,  that, 
in  1742,  they  resolved  to  erect  a  church,  applied  to 
the  town  for  land,  and  received  a  grant  from  the 
treasury  of  twelve  pounds,  old  tenor,  "provided  they 
purchased  a  place  of  any  particular  person  to  set  their 
house  on,  and  set  it  accordingly."     The  divisions  and 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  131 

animosities  in  the  Congregational  Society  gave  inter- 
est and  strength  to  their  enterprise;  and  they  went 
before  the  General  Assembly,  in  October,  1744,  with 
a  petition  signed  by  thirty-eight  persons,  "professors 
of  the  Church  of  England  and  inhabitants  of  the  town 
of  Waterbury,"  asking  for  corporate  privileges  and  aU 
the  powers  (the  school  only  excepted)  usually  enjoyed 
by  the  parishes  of  the  prevalent  order.  The  petition, 
like  similar  memorials  from  churchmen  in  other  towns, 
failed,  and  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  General  As- 
sembly could  not  grant  it  without  revoking  or  aban- 
doning the  system  of  legislation  which  had  made 
Congregationalism  the  religion  of  the  colony.  But 
the  Church,  notwithstanding,  was  soon  completed, 
"with  galleries  above  and  pews  below,"  and  stood  and 
was  occupied  for  half  a  century,  till  a  new  one  was 
erected  in  1795. 

What  constitutes  the  present  town  of  Pl3miouth 
formerly  belonged  to  Waterbury.  The  first  settlers 
were  from  different  parts  of  Connecticut,  several  from 
North  Haven ;  and  because  they  were  distant  from  the 
centre,  nineteen  petitioners,  including  one  from  West- 
bury  (now  Watertown),  appUed,  in  1737,  for  "winter 
privileges,"  and  were  released  from  parish  taxes  an- 
nually in  the  months  of  December,  January,  and  Feb- 
ruary, during  a  period  of  three  years.  At  length  they 
were  incorporated  into  a  parish  by  the  name  of  North- 
bury,  and  an  ecclesiastical  society  was  formed  in  No- 
vember, 1739.  Before  they  were  incorporated,  they 
united  in  the  erection  of  an  edifice  with  upper  and 
lower  rooms,  suited  to  all  their  public  wants,  which 
appears  to  have  been  proprietary,  and  which  they 
called  a  schoolhouse. 


132  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

The  establishment  of  Episcopacy  there  arose  out  of 
the  disorders  of  the  time,  and  the  sympathy  of  Samuel 
Todd,  the  Independent  minister,  with  the  great  relig- 
ious excitement.  A  Prayer  Book,  owned  by  the 
wife  of  one  of  his  parishioners,  had  much  to  do  in 
directing  and  enlightening  the  minds  of  those  who 
disapproved  of  his  course,  until  eleven  out  of  eighteen 
proprietors,  or  principal  men,  declared  for  the  Church 
of  England,  took  possession  of  the  house  which  had 
been  used  for  public  worship,  and  voted  to  exclude 
the  ministrations  of  Mr.  Todd.  They  were  under  the 
guidance  of  Mr.  Morris,  not  always,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, the  most  prudent  Missionary  ;  but  in  adopting 
this  action  they  assured  the  minority  that  they  would 
assist  them  in  buildino;  another  house  to  an  extent 
equal  to  the  interest  Avhich  they  had  thus  appropri- 
ated,— a  promise  said  to  have  been  faithfully  redeemed, 
and  to  the  pecuniary  satisfaction  of  the  ejected  Con- 
gregationalists.  The  separation  here  mentioned  oc- 
curred soon  after  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Todd,  and 
towards  the  close  of  the  year  1740. 

In  1744,  "the  representation  and  humble  petition" 
of  the  churchmen  in  Northbury  to  the  Honorable  So- 
ciety ran  thus :  "We  were  all  educated  in  this  land, 
under  the  instruction  of  the  Independent  teachers,  or 
(as  they  would  be  called)  Presbyterians;  and,  conse- 
quently, we  were  prejudiced  strongly  against  the 
Church  of  England  from  our  cradles,  until  we  had 
the  advantage  of  books  from  your  Reverend  Mission- 
aries and  others,  whereby  we  began  to  see  with  our 
own  eyes  that  things  were  not  as  they  had  been  rep- 
resented to  our  view;  and  Mr.  Whitefield  passing 
through  this  land,  condemning  all  but  his  adherents; 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  133 

and  his  followers  and  imitators — by  their  insufferable 
enthusiastic  whims  and  extemporaneous  jargon — 
brought  in  such  a  flood  of  confusion  amongst  us,  that 
we  became  sensible  of  the  unscriptural  method  we 
had  always  been  accustomed  to  take  in  our  worship 
of  God,  and  of  the  weakness  of  the  pretended  consti- 
tution of  the  churches  (so  called)  in  this  land ;  where- 
upon we  fled  to  the  Church  of  England  for  safety,  and 
are  daily  more  and  more  satisfied  we  are  safe,  pro- 
vided the  purity  of  our  hearts  and  Hves  be  conform- 
able to  her  excellent  doctrines." 

Johnson,  in  a  communication  to  Dr.  Bearcroft  some 
two  years  earher,  said :  "Since  my  last,  Ripton  people 
in  this  town  have  raised  a  church,  (which  is  the  four- 
teenth in  the  colony,)  and  they  hope  in  time  the  So- 
ciety will  be  in  a  condition  to  send  them  a  minister 
entirely  to  themselves,  where  there  will  ere  long  be  a 
good  congregation.  Indeed,  ministers  are  very  much 
wanted  in  several  places,  particularly  at  Simsbury  and 
He]:>ron."  The  same  hands  which  bore  this  letter  car- 
ried another  to  a  friend  in  London,  in  which,  after 
speaking  of  the  effects  of  the  popular  enthusiasm,  he 
remarked:  "It  has  occasioned  such  a  growth  of  the 
Church  m  this  town  (as  well  as  in  many  other  places) 
that  the  church  will  not  hold  us,  and  we  are  obhged 
to  rebuild  or  much  enlarge." 


134  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 


CHAPTER  X. 

A  COMMISSARY  FOR  CONNECTICUT    SOLICITED;  AND   THE    INFLU- 
ENCE OF  WHITEFIELD'S   PREACHING. 

A.  D.  1742-1747. 

The  prudence  of  the  senior  Missionary  in  Connec- 
ticut was  only  equalled  by  his  learning  and  firmness. 
To  remedy,  in  some  degree,  the  inconveniences  and 
difficulties  which  arose  from  the  continued  want  of 
Episcopal  oversight,  Commissaries  for  America  were 
appointed  by  the  Bishop  of  London,  who  were  under 
his  own  special  direction,  and  to  whom  a  limited  au- 
thority was  assigned.  The  Commissary  for  all  New 
England  was  the  Rev.  Roger  Price,  who  resided  at 
Boston,  and  held  the  office  for  a  period  of  twenty 
years.  As  the  Church  increased,  and  "enthusiasm 
in  its  worst  colors  was  daily  gaining  ground,"  the 
clergy  of  Connecticut,  in  1742,  united  in  suggesting 
the  expediency  of  appointing  a  Commissary  for  this 
colony,  and  stated,  among  other  reasons,  that  their 
distance  from  Boston  was  such  as  to  make  it  "im- 
practicable for  them  to  attend  upon  the  yearly  con- 
vention," and  consequently  to  receive  the  full  ben- 
efit which  the  appointment  was  intended  to  afford. 
They  stated,  "There  are  now  fourteen  churches  built 
and  building,  and  seven  clergymen,  within  this  col- 
ony, and  others  daily  called  for."  They  "presumed 
to  mention  the  Reverend  Mr.  Johnson,  of  Stratford, 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  135 

as  a  person  from  whose  ability,  virtue,  and  integrity" 
they  might  hope  to  gain  all  advantages;  and  he, 
though  supporting  their  appeal,  except  as  far  as  it 
related  to  himself,  assured  his  Lordship  that  it  was 
not  from  any  influence  of  his,  but  from  their  own 
motion,  that  his  brethren  had  been  j)leased  to  name 
him  as  fit  to  be  appointed  a  Commissary  in  Connec- 
ticut. He  added  strength  to  their  argument  by  say- 
ing: "When  I  came  here,  there  were  not  one  hundred 
adult  persons  of  the  Church  in  this  whole  colony, 
whereas  now  there  are  considerably  more  than  two 
thousand,  and  at  least  five  or  six  thousand  young  and 
old,  and  since  the  progress  of  this  strange  spirit  of 
enthusiasm  it  seems  daily  very  much  increasing." 
All  the  Missionaries  of  the  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel,  resident  in  Connecticut,  signed  or 
supported  this  request  for  a  Commissary,  save  one, 
and  he — the  Rev.  Mr.  Morris — was  an  Englishman 
by  birth,  who  had  Uttle  acquaintance  wdth  the  state 
of  American  society,  and  little  disposition  to  recom- 
mend the  Church  by  meeting  the  prejudices  of  the 
Independents  in  a  spirit  of  kindness  and  conciliation. 
He  was  instrumental  in  conveying  to  Boston,  as  well 
as  to  London,  a  complaint  which  touched  the  good 
character  of  Johnson,  and  represented  him  as  attend- 
ing the  meetings  of  the  dissenting  teachers,  and  suf- 
fering his  son  to  do  the  same.  The  degree  of  his 
displeasure  may  be  learnt  by  an  extract  from  a  pri- 
vate letter  which  the  senior  Missionary  wrote  him  in 
midsummer,  1742:  "I  hope  your  conscience  is  now 
entirely  easy,  having  so  effectually  disburdened  it 
at  the  Convention,  and  procured  a  chastisement  to  be 
sent  to  me,  which  I  have  received.    However,  I  should 


136  HISTORY  OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

be  glad  to  see  you  once  more,  or  to  receive  a  few 
lines  that  I  may  know  whether  you  are  yet  easy  or 
not;  and  I  hope  you  have  not  so  entirely  lost  all 
friendship  for  me  as  to  deny  me  that  favor.  At  least, 
I  hope  you  will  prove  so  generous  an  enemy  as  not 
to  smite  me  secretly,  hut  that  you  will  tell  me  hon- 
estly whether  you  intend,  after  all,  to  complain  fur- 
ther to  the  Society  of  my  great  wickedness  in  not 
forbidding  my  son  going  to  meeting  now  and  then, 
which  I  must  do  or  deny  him  any  public  education. 
....  Mr.  Morris,  I  have  not  deserved  this  unfriendly 
and  unbrotherlike  usage  from  you.  I  have  endeav- 
ored to  use  you  in  the  most  kind  and  friendly  man- 
ner I  was  able :  what,  therefore,  could  temj^t  you  to 
begin  this  quarrel,  and  raise  all  this  clamor  against  me 
both  at  New  York  and  Boston,  I  cannot  conceive." 

No  Commissary  was  appointed  for  Connecticut,  be- 
cause the  Bishop  of  London  was  unwilling  to  revoke 
or  change  any  part  of  the  commission  which  he  had 
granted  to  Mr.  Price,  without  his  consent,  or  until  his 
death  or  resignation.  But  Johnson  still  continued  to 
be  the  leading  light  among  the  clergy  of  the  colony, 
and  to  be  consulted  and  regarded  as  a  safe  adviser  in 
all  matters  relating  to  the  prosperity  of  the  Church. 
Mr.  Morris,  failing  to  be  welcomed  at  New  London, 
to  which  mission  he  was  appointed  after  the  removal 
of  Mr.  Seabury  to  Hempstead,  L.  I.,  finally  returned 
to  England,  and  was  succeeded  here  at  Derby,  Water- 
bury,  and  the  contiguous  towns,  in  1743,  by  the  Rev. 
James  Lyons,  an  Irishman,  who,  if  he  had  genius  and 
zeal,  was  another  example  of  a  tiller  in  the  field  that 
needed  a  special  Missionary  to  watch  him  and  keep 
him  from  running  his  plough  upon  the  rocks. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  137 

In  justification  of  himself,  and  as  due  to  the  Society, 
Johnson  confessed  that  he  "did  go  to  hear  Whitefield 
once,"  before  he  Avas  under  the  ban  of  censure  by  the 
Bishops  and  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England,  that  he 
might  be  better  enabled  to  present  an  antidote  to  the 
mischiefs  which  he  apprehended  from  him  and  his 
followers;  and  for  the  same  reason,  "with  two  or  three 
of  his  brethren  of  the  clergy,  he  v/ent  one  night,  in 
the  dark,  and  perfectly  incognito,  among  a  vast  crowd, 
to  see  and  hear"  the  manai»:ements  and  ravino-s  of 
James  Davenport.  He  defended  the  true  teachings 
of  Christianity,  not  with  his  voice  only,  but  with  his 
jDen  also.  An  excellent  pamphlet,  written  and  pub- 
lished by  him,  under  the  title  of  "A  Letter  from  Aris- 
tocles  to  Anthades,"  designed  to  explain  the  scrip1> 
ural  doctrine  of  the  divine  sovereignty  and  promises, 
brought  out  a  third  time  that  veteran  controversialist, 
Jonathan  Dickinson,  of  New  Jersey.  The  discussion 
was  closed  in  1744;  but  in  the  previous  year  his  labors 
had  so  attracted  the  admiration  of  his  friends  in  Eng- 
land, that  they  recommended  him  to  the  University 
of  Oxford  for  the  deo-ree  of  Doctor  in  Divinitv,  and 
that  University  publicly  renewed,  with  increased  dis- 
tmction,  the  honor  which  it  had  conferred  upon  him 
just  twenty  years  before.  The  hope  expressed  in  the 
Master's  diploma,  "  iSperanfes,  illius  mimsterio,  aliam  et 
eandem,  olini,  nascitiwam  Ecdesiani  Anglicanuniy''  —  that, 
through  his  mstrumentality,  the  Church  of  England 
would  rise  up  with  new  vigor  in  this  country, — had 
been  partly  fulfilled,  and  the  signs  of  its  advancing  to 
a  further  accomplishment  were  again  gratefully  rec- 
ognized; and  hence  Dr.  Astry,  in  transmitting  the  di- 
ploma, said,  "I  do  not  so  much  consider  myself  doing 


138  HISTORY  OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

a  good  office  to  a  private  friend  as  promoting  the 
public  interest  of  religion." 

The  second  and  larger  church  at  Stratford,  de- 
manded by  the  increased  congregation,  was  opened, 
though  unfinished,  on  the  8th  of  July,  1744;  and  Dr. 
Johnson,  who  contributed  the  bell,  preached  a  sermon 
entitled  "The  Great  Duty  of  Loving  and  Delighting  in 
the  Public  Worship  of  God,"  which  was  published,  with 
prayers  for  the  family  and  closet  appended.  That 
edifice,  so  rich  in  historic  associations  and  the  scene 
of  such  a  "bright  succession"  of  pastors,  served  the 
children  of  the  righteous  for  more  than  a  century,  and 
stood  until  six  years  ago,  when  it  was  replaced  by  an- 
other, more  capacious,  more  elegant,  and  more  suited 
to  the  advanced  state  of  Christian  architecture.  It  is 
a  curious  fact  that  the  Congregationalists  in  Stratford, 
belonging  to  "the  Old  or  Prime  Society,"  moved  at 
the  same  time  to  build  a  meeting-house,  not  quite  as 
large  as  the  church,  but  with  a  steej)le  ten  feet  higher. 
A  division  arose  among  them,  and,  after  the  General 
Assembly  had  "appointed,  ordered,  and  affixed  the 
place  whereon  the  meeting-house  should  be  erected," 
a  memorial  was  served  on  the  Society,  in  opposition 
to  the  whole  proceeding,  and  a  committee  appointed 
to  proceed  to  New  Haven,  Avhere  the  Assembly  was  in 
session,  to  show  reasons  why  the  prayer  thus  served 
should  not  be  heard.  The  erection  of  the  building, 
however,  was  not  prevented  by  these  movements. 

The  Rev.  Richard  Caner,  with  an  appointment  from 
the  Honorable  Society,  reached  Norwalk,  after  his  ordi- 
nation, in  June,  1742,  at  which  time  the  church  there 
consisted  of  about  thirty  families.  But  so  successful 
were  his  ministrations,  and  so  rapid  the  growth  of  the 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  139 

parish,  that,  in  December  following,  the  people  re- 
solved to  build  a  new  church,  and  provided  with  great 
alacrity  the  means  for  its  erection.  The  old  one  was 
removed  a  short  distance  and  converted  into  a  par- 
sonage. The  transfer^  of  Mr.  Caner  from  Norwalk 
to  Staten  Island,  in  the  autumn  of  1745,  a  step  which 
was  soon  followed  by  his  death,  at  New  York,  of  the 
small-pox,  interrupted  greatly  the  prosperity  of  the 
parish,  and  left  the  bereaved  people  for  several  years 
without  a  stated  supply.  At  the  date  of  Mr.  Caner's 
removal  he  had  ninety  families  under  his  charge;  and 
his  brother,  writing  from  Fairfield  in  the  next  year, 
says:  "The  church  of  Norwalk  is,  I  think,  the  largest 
and  most  flourishing  church  in  this  colony,  which 
makes  me  the  more  solicitous  to  have  some  better 
provision  made  for  it  than  I  am  capable  of  bestowing 
that  way  consistently  with  a  proper  care  of  other 
churches." 

A  second  church  at  Newtown,  "a  strong,  neat 
building,  forty-six  feet  long  and  thirty-five  wide,"  was 
erected  in  1746,  and  the  Missionary,  in  giving  an  ac- 
count of  it  to  the  Venerable  Society,  remarked,  "It  is 
very  certain  that  our  people  generally  exj^end  more 
for  the  support  of  religion  than  their  neighbors  of 
the  dissenting  persuasion."  In  consequence  of  the 
public  attention  awakened  to  Episcopacy  throughout 
Connecticut,  j)arishes  were  organized  and  churches 
arose  in  new  localities.  The  law,  which  for  nearly 
twenty  years  had  but  imperfectly  served  the  purposes 

1  In  the  abstract  of  the  Society  for  1744,  this  is  said  to  be  "a  reward  for 
his  faithful  service  in  the  care  of  the  churches  of  Northfield,"  a  misprint  for 
Norfiekl  (now  Weston),  "  Ridgefiekl,  and  Norwalk,  within  the  extensive 
cure  of  his  brother,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Henry  Caner,  the  Society's  worthy  Mis- 
sionary at  Fairfield  in  Connecticut." 


140  HISTORY  OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

of  churchmen,  was  now  beginning  to  work  more  to 
their  advantage.  For,  amid  all  the  turmoils  and  dis- 
sensions of  Congregationalism,  no  new  religious  so- 
ciety of  that  order  could  be  formed  in  any  town  and 
3'et  claim  exemption  from  taxation  to  support  the  first 
or  existing  society.  So  wide  had  the  breach  become 
between  the  New  Lights  and  the  Old  Lights,  that  at 
New  Haven,  in  the  last  days  of  the  year  1741,  a  move- 
ment was  made  for  a  separate  society,  and  its  mem- 
bers submitted  long  to  be  doubly  taxed  to  insure  its 
success.  Governor  Talcott,  who  welcomed  the  earliest 
visit  of  Whitefield  as  a  time  of  spiritual  refreshing, 
had  descended  to  his  grave ;  and  under  the  adminis- 
tration of  Jonathan  Law,  his  successor,  the  General 
Assembly,  with  a  view  to  prevent  further  separations, 
to  suppress  enthusiasm,  and  strengthen  the  confession 
of  faith  agreed  upon  at  Saybrook,  enacted  a  "number 
of  severe  and  persecuting  laws,"  and  repealed  or  modi- 
fied those  in  favor  of  sober  dissenting  consciences. 
Dr.  Trumbull  calls  the  law  of  1742  "a  concerted  plan 
of  the  Old  Lights,  or  Arminians,  both  among  the  clergy 
and  civilians,  to  suppress,  as  far  as  possible,  all  the 
zealous  and  Calvinistic  preachers ;  to  confine  them 
entirely  to  their  own  pulpits;  and,  at  the  same  time, 
to  put  all  the  public  odium  and  reproach  possible 
upon  them  as  wicked,  disorderly  men,  unfit  to  enjoy 
the  common  rights  of  citizens."  "It  was,"  he  adds, 
"an  outrage  to  every  principle  of  justice,"  and  "a  pal- 
pable violation  of  the  Connecticut  bill  of  rights."  The 
enactment  of  the  General  Assembly,  at  its  May  Session 
in  1746,  though  aimed  directly  at  the  same  object, 
struck  a  blow  at  the  Church,  and  excluded  her  mem- 
bers from  voting  in  society  meetings,  and  from  having 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  ,         141 

any  share  in  levying  those  taxes  which  they  were 
obhged  to  pay  for  the  common  support  of  religion. 

But  these  measures  did  not  really  check  the  prog-  V 

ress  of  the  Church  of  England  in  the  colony.  As 
early  as  1740,  Mr.  Beach  was  instrumental  in  gather- 
ing an  "Episcopal  Society"  in  Woodbury;  and  a  house 
of  worship  was  soon  after  erected,  within  the  limits 
of  the  town,  "on  the  hill  between  a  place  called  Tran- 
sylvania and  the  present  centre  of  Roxbury."  In 
1743,  chiefly  through  his  influence,  a  church  was  built 
at  New  Milford;  and  on  the  5th  of  November,  1745,  an 
organization  was  effected  in  Litchfield,  and  four  years 
later  a  church  was  built,  to  which  its  principal  bene- 
factor, Mr.  John  Davies,  an  Englishman,  gave  the  name 
of  St.  Michael's.  For  the  most  part,  in  all  places,  the  ■ 
erection  of  houses  of  public  w^orship,  or  the  attempt  to 
erect  them,  speedily  followed  the  parochial  organiza- 
tions. At  Middletown  thirty  families,  towards  the  end 
of  the  year  1742,  "earnestly  desired  to  be  mentioned 
to  the  Venerable  Society  in  hopes  of  their  future  fa- 
vors." In  the  sea-side  towns  there  was  quite  as  much 
progress  to  rejoice  the  hearts  of  churchmen.  At  the 
opening  of  the  year  1747,  "the  thirty  conformists"  in 
Norwich,  then,  according  to  Punderson,  "the  largest 
and  most  flourishing  of  any  town  in  the  colony,"  pro- 
ceeded to  build  a  house,  "for  the  service  of  Almighty 
God,  according  to  the  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, as  by  law  established,  somewhere  betv,  een  the 
town  and  the  Landing-Place,"  and  they  collected  sub- 
scriptions for  the  purpose,  not  only  from  Norwicli,  but 
from  Pthode  Island  and  Boston.  In  Guilford,  the  birth- 
place of  Johnson,  and  where  he  had  several  times 
administered  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism,  a  parish  was 


142  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

formed  in  1743,  and  another  at  North  Guilford  in  1747, 
after  a  division  and  contention  arose  among  the  Con- 
gregationaUsts  in  that  town  on  the  question  of  set- 
tUng  a  minister.  At  Stamford,  inckiding  Greenwich 
and  the  adjacent  places,  "the  confusions  of  Method- 
ism" only  made  the  Episcopalians  more  resolute,  and 
a  church  was  so  far  finished  in  the  spring  of  1747  as 
to  be  fit  for  occupancy.  They  had  previously  assisted 
Mr.  Richardson  Minor,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College, 
and  from  1730  to  1744  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Society  in  North  Stratford  (now  Trumbull),  to  go 
home  for  Holy  Orders;  but  he  was  taken  by  the 
French  upon  his  passage,  with  Mr.  Lamson,  and  after 
his  release  from  confinement,  while  on  his  way  with 
his  fellow-sufferer  from  Port  Louis  in  France  to  Lon- 
don, he  died  of  a  fever  at  Salisbury,  to  the  great  sor- 
row of  his  waiting  flock  and  dependent  family.  Dr. 
Johnson,  in  alluding  to  the  event,  exclaimed,  "Would 
to  God  we  had  a  Bishop  to  ordain  here,  which  would 
prevent  such  unhappy  disasters."  The  Rev.  Joseph 
Lamson,  his  companion,  a  native  of  Stratford  and  a 
graduate  of  Yale  College,  returned  to  this  country 
in  1745,  and  his  friends  welcomed  him  "as  one  risen 
from  the  dead,  among  whom  report  had  for  some  time 
placed  him."  The  Society  appointed  him  an  Assistant 
to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wetmore,  the  Missionary  at  Rye ;  and 
his  particular  duties  were  to  minister  under  his  direc- 
tion "to  the  inhabitants  of  Bedford,  North-Castle,  and 
Ridgefield,  with  a  salary  of  £20  per  annum,  besides 
a  gratuity  of  the  same  sum,  out  of  compassion  to  Mr. 
Lamson's  sufferings  and  necessities."  It  was  a  motive 
to  this  appointment  that  a  church  was  already  built 
at  Ridgefield. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  143 

The  multiplication  of  parishes  and  the  erection  of 
churches  ought  to  have  been  accompanied  by  a  cor- 
responding increase  in  the  number  of  Missionaries. 
The  Rev.  Wm.  Gibbs,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  Univer- 
sity, was  sent  to  Simsbury;  but  with  this  exception, 
no  new  stations  had  been  taken  and  supplied,  while 
several  of  the  old  ones  were  vacant  as  late  as  the 
spring  of  1747.  By  this  time  the  Rev.  Henry  Caner, 
probably  the  most  popular  preacher  of  our  Church 
in  the  colony,  and  who  for  twenty  years  fulfilled  so 
well  his  mission  at  Fairfield,  had  removed  to  Boston, 
and  entered  upon  the  Rectorship  of  King's  Chapel. 
Seabury  had  been  transferred  to  Hempstead  on  Long 
Island,  and  Punderson,  as  he  wrote  in  the  previous 
year,  was  the  only  "laborer  of  the  Episcopal  order" 
in  that  part  of  Connecticut.  Mr.  Ebenezer  Thompson, 
a  native  of  West  Haven,  and  a  graduate  of  Yale  Col- 
lege, having  for  a  long  time  served  the  Church  most 
faithfully  as  a  lay  reader  in  the  Mission  of  Mr.  Morris, 
was  recommended  by  the  clergy  for  Holy  Orders  in 
1743,  with  a  request  on  their  part  that  he  might  be 
returned  to  a  portion  of  his  former  field;  but,  with  a 
family  to  support,  he  was  given  the  appointment  of  a 
better  mission  in  Massachusetts.  A  year  or  two  later, 
Mr.  Hezekiah  Watkins,  who  had  been  a  minister 
among  the  Congregationalists,  and  Mr.  Barzillai  Dean, 
for  some  time  a  lay  reader  at  Hebron,  both  graduates 
of  Yale  College  and  classmates,  went  over  to  England 
for  ordination;  but  one  was  appointed  to  a  charge  in 
the  Province  of  New  York,  and  the  other  was  lost 
with  the  ship  which  was  bringing  him  back  to  this 
countr}^,  —  a  sad  disappointment  to  the  people  of  He- 
bron, who  were  prepared  to  welcome  him  in  the  office 


144  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

of  the  Priesthood.  The  elements  of  theoloo-ical  discord 
were  in  violent  commotion,  and  not  likely  to  be  soon 
quieted:  there  wanted  but  the  convenient  opportu- 
nity for  others  to  break  away  from  the  standing  order 
and  be  employed  in  the  service  of  the  Church.  This 
appears  from  a  letter  of  Johnson  to  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  written  shortly  before  Christmas  in 
1742,  and  in  which  the  following  passage  occurs:  "It 
is  a  very  great  misfortune  to  the  Church,  now  become 
a  large  body  m  these  American  colonies,  that  w^e  can- 
not be  provided  for  wdth  at  least  one  or  two  Bishops. 
I  am  persuaded  at  this  juncture  there  are  several  dis- 
senting teachers  who  would  take  orders,  if  they  could 
have  them,  by  riding,  though  it  were  three  or  four 
hundred  miles,  and  would  bring  all  their  people  with 
them  that  are  not  infatuated  with  this  New  Lio-ht. 
And  such  is  the  disposition  of  many  towards  Episco- 
pacy, that  I  am  afraid  some  will  be  tempted  to  go  over 
to  the  Moravians  on  that  account,  who  have  a  Bishop 
among  them.  At  least  an  English  Bishop  would  be 
the  most  effectual  means  to  secure  people  from  that 
and  every  other  faction  and  delusion,  as  well  as  vastly 
to  enlarge  the  Church.  I  have  been  informed  that 
the  chief  pretence  against  sending  Bishops  has  been 
an  apprehension  of  these  colonies  effecting  an  inde- 
pendency on  our  mother-country.  This  is  indeed  a 
most  groundless  apprehension;  but  certainly  a  regular 
Episcopacy,  even  subordinate  to  the  Bishop  of  London, 
would  be  so  far  from  this  that  it  would  be  one  of  the 
most  effectual  means  to  secure  our  dependency." 

It  is  a  weariness  and  vexation  of  the  spirit  to  refer 
again  and  again  to  such  records  of  fruitless  entreaty 
and  of  repeated  and  unavaiUng  remonstrances.    While 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  145 

the  Missionaries  were  devoting  themselves  heartily  to 
their  work,  and  sending  home  with  renewed  urgency 
their  prayers  for  that  help  which  the  presence  of  a 
faithful  Bishop  could  alone  secure  to  them,  the  spirit- 
ual authorities  of  England  were  refused  the  power  of 
granting  it,  simply  because  the  policy  of  the  State 
must  be  identified  with  the  Church  and  override  its 
prosperity.  It  was  a  time  here  when  all  the  moral 
force  which  our  offices,  seen  in  their  completeness, 
can  supply,  was  needed.  It  was  a  time  for  church- 
men not  to  be  charged  with  inconsistency,  and  up- 
braided for  pressing  the  importance  of  things  which 
they  were  forbidden  to  enjoy.  It  was  a  time  to  open 
the  eyes  of  those  who  were  blmded  by  prejudice,  and 
teach  them  to  contrast  the  quiet  walks  of  religion  and 
the  beauty  and  harmony  of  government  with  the 
convulsions  and  irregularities  which  everywhere  pre- 
vailed. No  gloomier  picture  of  the  moral  and  rehg- 
ious  state  of  the  colony  at  this  period  can  be  drawn 
than  that  Avhich  appears  in  the  proclamation  of  the 
Governor  for  a  day  of  fastmg  in  1743.  It  is  only 
equalled  by  the  "brief  and  sorrowful  account"  of 
Samuel  Niles,  "a  mournful  spectator  and  sharer  in 
the  present  calamities,  and  pastor  of  a  church  of 
Christ  in  Braintree."  It  deserves  to  be  quoted  in 
this  connection.  "Neglect  and  contempt  of  the  Gos- 
pel and  its  ministers,  a  prevailing  and  abounding 
spirit  of  error,  disorder,  unpeaceableness,  pride,  bitter- 
ness, uncharitableness,  censoriousness,  disobedience, 
calumniating  and  reviling,  of  authority,  divisions,  con- 
tentions, separations  and  confusions  in  churches,  in- 
justice, idleness,  evil  speaking,  lasciviousness,  and  all 
other  vices  and  miquities  abounded." 

10 


146  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

Whitefield,  who  licad  left  behind  him  on  his  first 
visit  a  legacy  of  enthusiasm,  from  which  had  sprung 
all  this  evil  and  discord,  was  now  preparing  to  return 
and  itinerate  again  these  Eastern  colonies.  The  cords 
of  union,  which,  at  his  ordination,  bound  him  to  the 
Church  of  England,  had  become  so  loosened  that  he 
was  no  longer  held  as  one  of  her  clergy,  and  he  had 
separated  from  Wesley,  as  Wesley  finally  separated 
from  the  Church,  because  he  could  not  unite  with 
him  on  his  views  of  free  grace,  and  brmg  him  over  to 
his  own  Calvinistic  doctrine  of  election.  "Had  he  not 
renewed  his  visit,"  said  Dr.  Cutler,  in  a  letter  dated 
December,  1744,  "enthusiasm  might  have  subsided 
sooner.  He  has  brought  town  and  country  into 
trouble.  Multitudes  flock  after  him,  but  without  that 
fervency  and  fury  as  heretofore.  For  some  are  ashamed 
of  what  is  past ;  others,  both  of  teachers  and  people, 
make  loud  opposition,  being  sadly  hurt  by  the  ani- 
mosities, divisions,  and  separations  that  have  ensued 
upon  it,  and  the  sad  intermissions  of  labor  and  busi- 
ness ;  and  observing  libertine  principles  and  practice 
advancing  on  it,  and  the  Church  little  ruffled  by  such 
disorders,  but  growing  in  numbers  and  reputation." 

The  association  of  Congregational  ministers  in  the 
County  of  New  Haven,  convened  in  February,  1745, 
formally  disapproved,  in  a  pamphlet  which  was  exten- 
sively circulated,  of  his  itinerancy,  his  doctrines,  his 
whole  course;  and  declared,  among  other  things,  that 
they  could  not  "reconcile  his  conduct  and  practice  in 
publicly  praying  and  administering  the  sacrament 
among  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists  in  the 
extempore  way,  with  his  subscription  and  solemn 
promises  and  vows  at  the  time  of  his  Episcopal  ordi- 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  147 

nation,  nor  see  how  his  doing  so  was  consistent  with 
moral  honesty,  Christian  simphcity,  and  godly  sincer- 
ity." They  noted  the  "numbers  of  illiterate  exhort- 
ers  swarming  about  as  locusts  from  the  bottomless 
pit";  and  after  censuring  the  Boston  ministers  for  "ca- 
ressing, applauding,  and  following  the  said  Whitefield," 
they  improved  the  occasion  to  "send  their  public 
thanks  to  the  Reverend  and  Honored  Gentlemen  of 
Harvard  College,  the  Reverend  Associations  and  par- 
ticular Ministers,  who  had  appeared  so  valiant  for  the 
Truth  against  the  errors,  enthusiasm,  and  encroaching 
evils  of  the  present  day."  The  General  Association 
of  Connecticut  divines  followed  their  example,  and  a 
few  months  later  deemed  "it  needful  to  declare,  that, 
if  he  should  make  his  progress  through  this  govern- 
ment, it  would  by  no  means  be  advisable  for  any  of 
their  ministers  to  admit  him  into  their  pulpits,  or 
for  any  of  their  people  to  attend  his  administrations." 
There  was  harmony  of  sentiment  at  this  period  be- 
tween the  two  New-England  colleges.  Harvard  and 
Yale,  from  both  of  which  students  were  expelled  who 
sympathized  with  the  New-Light  Theology,  and  per- 
sistently refused  to  have  any  yoke  put  upon  their 
consciences.  And  at  Yale,  President  Clap  and  the 
Tutors  signed  a  declaration  condemnatory  of  the 
principles  and  designs  of  Whitefield,  which  "offended 
some,  without  effectually  conciliating  others."  In  that 
declaration,  prepared  as  a  letter  and  printed,  the  sign- 
ers thus  referred  to  the  effect  of  his  "slanders  upon 
the  colleges,"  and  especially  their  own : 

"Sundry  of  the  students  ran  into  enthusiastic  errors 
and  disorders,  censured  and  reviled  their  governors 
and  others;   for  which  some   were  expelled,  denied 


148         HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

their  Degrees,  or  otherwise  punished ;  and  some  -with- 
drew to  that  thing  called  the  ShephertVs  Tent.  And 
we  have  been  informed,  that  the  students  were  told 
that  there  was  no  danger  in  disobeying  their  present 
governors,  because  there  would  in  a  short  time  be  a 
great  change  in  the  civil  government,  and  so  in  the 
governors  of  the  College.  All  which  rendered  the 
government  and  instruction  of  the  College,  for  a 
while,  far  more  difficult  than  it  was  before."-' 

All  these  movements,  so  far  from  weakening  the 
Church  of  England,  inspired  fresh  confidence  in  her 
order,  her  doctrines,  her  worship.  Care  was  taken 
that  her  members  should  not  increase  in  New  Haven ; 
and  hence  no  students,  except  the  children  of  pro- 
fessed churchmen,  were  allowed  to  attend  upon  the 
ministrations  of  the  Society's  Missionary.  But  the 
good  seed  planted  here  in  faith  was  already  beginning 
to  germinate.  In  the  spring  of  1745,  Dr.  Johnson 
wrote  to  the  Secretary  thus:  "As  there  is  such  a 
growing  disposition  among  the  people  in  many  places 
to  forsake  the  tenets  of  enthusiasm  and  confusion,  so 
there  is  a  like  disposition  increasing  in  the  College, 
where  there  are  already  ten  children  of  the  Church, 
and  several  sons  of  dissenting  parents,  that  are  much 
inclined  to  conform.  I  was  there  last  w^eek,  and  was 
much  pleased  with  the  exercises;  among  the  rest, 
there  was  one  layman,  a  person  of  good  character, 
(besides  Messrs.  Marsh  and  Mansfield,  mentioned  in 
my  last,)  who  desired  me  to  mention  him  to  the  So- 
ciety as  a  candidate  for  the  ministry;"  and  more  than 
a  year  later  he  again  wrote  these  most  encouraging 
words:  "A  love  to  the  Church  is  still  gaining  in  the 

1    The  Declaration^  pp.  11,  12. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  149 

College,  and  four  more,  whose  names  are  Allen,  Lloyd, 
Sturgeon,  and  Chandler,  have  declared  themselves 
candidates  for  Holy  Orders;  and  there  seems  a  very 
growing  disposition  toward  the  Church  in  the  town 
of  New  Haven,  as  well  as  in  the  College,  so  that  1 
hope,  ere  long,  there  will  be  a  flourishing  church 
there." 

Let  it  be  said  here  that  all  honor  and  gratitude  are 
due,  from  us  who  share  the  benefit,  to  the  laymen  of 
those  days,  for  keeping  the  fires  of  the  Church  burn- 
ing in  places  where  they  had  no  steady  watchmen  for 
their  souls  save  schoolmasters  and  catechists.  We 
ought  to  grow  more  and  more  in  love  with  a  system 
which  possesses  the  inherent  elements  of  perpetuity, 
and  which  can  live  and  flourish  in  the  midst  of  ram- 
pant enthusiasm,  while  sects  and  theories  change,  tot- 
ter, and  crumble  from  confusion  into  separation  and 
decay.  The  Church  never  substitutes  inward,  un- 
thinking impulses  for  truth  and  reason  and  right 
rules  of  conduct.  Her  scriptural  formularies  under 
God  are  her  safeguard.  Whatever  may  be  the  lan- 
guage of  the  pulpit,  and  the  false  or  fanciful  inter- 
pretations put  upon  the  Divine  Word,  the  plain  truth 
is  always  propounded  from  the  desk.  The  Church 
teaches  her  children  to  follow  the  well-worn  track  of 
dut}^,  and  thus  to  walk  side  by  side  in  faith  with  those 
who  have  entered  it  before  them  and  passed  on,  claim- 
ing the  fulness  of  the  promises,  to  their  final  reward. 
It  would  be  a  sinful  mistrust  of  the  good  providence 
of  God  to  fear  that  the  help  vouchsafed  to  her  in 
former  days  will  not  be  continued  in  the  time  to 
come.  Rather  let  us  rejoice  that  the  Church  recog- 
nizes in  every  difficulty  and  danger  a  fresh  call  to 


150  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

watchfulness  and  prayer;  that  even  when  the  fearful 
anxieties  and  desolations  of  civil  war  bow  down  the 
hearts  of  the  people  with  sorrow,  she  yet  invites  her 
children  all  the  more  earnestly  to  remember  the  hope 
still  set  before  them,  and  to  fulfil,  as  best  they  may, 
the  simple  yet  solemn  obligations  which  the  posses- 
sion of  this  hope  requires.  Personal  piety,  the  adorn- 
ment of  the  individual  man  with  all  the  graces  of  the 
Christian  character,  never  fails  to  win  the  tribute  of 
public  admiration,  and  to  command  some  respect  for 
the  very  body  to  which  he  belongs.  Hence  it  was 
not  only  a  right  and  sound  faith,  but  a  right  and  con- 
sistent practice,  on  the  part  of  the  members  of  the 
Church,  that  so  contributed  to  her  rapid  advancement 
amid  the  vast  disorders  and  dissensions  which  followed 
the  first  visit  of  Whitefield  to  New  England.  It  is 
the  same  combination  of  a  right  faith  and  a  right 
practice  that  now  and  always  must  contribute  to  her 
prosperity,  and  send  through  the  land  her  richer  and 
larger  influences. 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  151 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  EPISCOPAL  CLERGY  KEEPING  ALOOF  FROM  SECTARIAN 
CONTROVERSIES;  AND  THE  GENERAL  PROSPERITY  OF  THE 
CHURCH. 

A.  D.    1747-1752. 

An  undue  excitem.ent  on  religious  subjects  is  natu- 
rally followed  by  a  season  of  spiritual  declension.  The 
poj)ular  mind,  yielding  to  the  pressure  of  outward  cir- 
cumstances, accepts  that  which,  in  calmer  hours,  it  is 
quite  ready  to  throw  off,  and  the  return  to  quietude 
and  contentment  is  often  no  more  than  the  sinking 
down  into  a  state  of  barrenness  and  indifference.  It 
is  but  the  motionless,  unrippled.  expanse  of  waters 
which  follows  the  raging  of  the  angry  storm. 

The  enthusiasm,  kindled  by  the  repeated  visits  of 
Whitefield  to  New  England,  ha\dng  consumed,  like  a 
fire  in  the  woods,  all  that  was  light  and  inflammatory, 
now  began  to  subside,  and  the  rehgious  body  which 
had  been  most  affected  by  it  looked  with  sorrow,  not 
only  upon  its  own  distractions  and  disorders,  but  upon 
the  decay  of  vital  godliness.  The  Episcoj^al  clergy 
of  Connecticut,  in  all  the  stations  at  which  they  were 
placed,  watched  narrowly  the  progress  of  events,  and 
both  in  their  public  and  private  ministrations  pre- 
sented the  discriminating  marks  between  true  and 
false  religion,  and  thus  won  over  to  the  Church  many 
who  had  else  been  lost  in  the  mazes  of  infidelity  or 


152        HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

in  the  depths  of  desjDair.  They  pursued  a  wise  policy 
in  the  midst  of  the  popular  discontents,  and  kept  aloof 
from  the  sectarian  controversies  and  from  the  pro- 
longed contentions  which  most  commonly  arose  out 
of  the  settlement  of  pastors  over  divided  flocks.  They 
were  ever  ready  to  defend  their  own  faith  and  prac- 
tice. They  allowed  no  misrepresentations  of  the  doc- 
trine, discipline,  and  worship  of  the  Church  to  go  un- 
noticed; but  they  could  not  forget  that,  so  far  from 
finding  their  sphere  of  usefulness  in  strife  and  theo- 
logical dispute,  it  was  a  prominent  injunction  of  the 
Society  to  all  its  Missionaries,  "That  the  chief  subjects 
.  of  their  sermons  should  be  the  fimdamental  doctrines 
'  of  Christianity,  and  the  duties  of  a  sober,  righteous, 
and  godly  life,  as  resulting  from  such  doctrines." 
^  Hence,  the  Church  grew  under  their  wise  and  pru- 
dent ministrations ;  and  those  who  at  first  came  from 
curiosity  within  reach  of  their  lessons,  abated  their 
prejudices,  and  Avere  soon  found,  with  Prayer  Books 
in  their  hands,  joining  in  the  responsive  notes  of  the 
Liturgy,  and  feeling  that  they  had  missed  much  in 
commg  so  late  to  the  knowledge  of  its  preciousness. 

The  Church  would  have  grown  much  more  rapidly 
had  there  been  more  Missionaries.  Writing  to  the 
Bishop  of  London  in  the  spring  of  1747,  and  referring 
to  the  vacancies  in  Connecticut  at  that  time,  Dr. 
Johnson  said:  "1  am  now  alone  here  on  the  sea-coast, 
without  one  person,  in  orders,  besides  myself,  for  more 
than  one  hundred  miles;  in  which  compass  there  is 
business  enough  for  six  or  seven  ministers;  and  those 
northward  have  their  hands  full;  so  that  my  burden 
is  at  present  insupportable ;  nor  have  we  yet  leave  for 
any  to  go  home,  though  there  are  five  or  six  valuable 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  158 

candidates.  Unless,  therefore,  the  Society  can  pro- 
vide, or  your  Lordship  can  think  jDroper  to  ordain  on 
such  titles  as  can  be  made  here,  (which  in  some  places, 
though  not  without  much  hardship,  may,  I  believe, 
be  made  equal  to  thirty  pounds  sterling  per  annum,) 
the  Church  must  soon  decay  apace ;  meantime  it  is 
really  affecting  to  hear  the  cries  and  importunities  of 
people  from  several  quarters,  and  not  have  it  in  one's 
power  to  lielj)  them." 

But  it  was  not  long  before  some  of  these  importu- 
nities were  heeded.  In  the  year  1747,  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Lamson,  who  encountered  so  many  perils  in  obtaining 
Holy  Orders,  and  returned  to  this  country  with  the 
loss  of  his  companion  and  fellow-sufferer,  was  added 
to  the  list  of  the  Society's  Missionaries  in  Connecticut, 
succeeding  the  Rev.  Mr.  Caner  at  Fairfield.  His  first 
appointment,  as  we  have  seen  in  a  former  chapter, 
was  to  act  as  an  assistant  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wetmore 
at  Rj^e,  Avhose  daughter  he  afterwards  married;  and 
he  was  charged  with  the  special  duty  of  officiating  to 
the  people  in  Bedford,  North-Castle,  and  Ridgefield. 
The  latter  place,  though  in  the  Colony  of  Connecti- 
cut, and  geographically  "within  the  bounds  of  the 
parish  or  mission  of  Fairfield,"  had  been  for  some 
time  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Wetmore,  as  had  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  of  England  living  in  other  locah- 
ties  bordering  on  the  Province  of  New  York.  There 
was  now  no  Missionary  stationed  between  Fairfield 
and  Rye;  and  Mr.  Lamson,  after  his  removal  to  Con- 
necticut, continued  to  officiate  at  intervals,  as  his  con- 
venience would  allow,  in  the  church  at  Ridgefield. 
He  is  also  mentioned,  in  the  proceedings  of  the  So- 
ciety for  1748,  as  "serving  Norwalk,"  then  with  the 


154  HISTORY  OF    THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

neighboring  villages  grown  to  be  a  parish  "of  one 
hundred  and  five  families,  which  exceeded  the  num- 
ber of  any  other  church  in  the  government,  except 
the  church  in  Stratford."     The   scarcity  of  laborers 
and  the  plenteousness  of  the  harvest  imposed  addi- 
tional duty  upon  the  clergy  of  Connecticut  at  this 
period.     The  Episcopalians  in  Stratfield  (now  Bridge- 
port) had  become  so  numerous  that  they  proceeded, 
under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  Lamson,  m  1748,  to  erect 
a   house    of  worship,   which   was    called    St.   John's 
Church,  and  opened,  as  usual,  for  services  before  it 
was  completed.     It  was  the  eighteenth  church  built 
in  the  colony;  and  among  the  seven  principal  proprie- 
tors whose  names  have  been  preserved,  was  Colonel 
John  Burr,  a  man  of  eminent  abilities,  and  possessed 
of  a  large  estate.     He  was  educated  in  the  faith  of 
Congregationalism,  and  zealously  promoted  its  inter- 
ests until  the   extravagances  of  White  field  and  his 
followers  appeared,  when  he  turned  his  attention  to 
the  Episcopal  Church;  and  finding  her  doctrines  and 
government  to  be  consistent  with  the  Word  of  God,  he 
embraced  them,  and  passed  the  remainder  of  his  days 
in  her  communion,  —  as  generous  now  in  the    sup- 
port of  Episcopacy  as  he  had  before  been  in  the  sup- 
port of  Congregationalism.     In  writing  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Society,  in  the  autumn  of  this  year,  Mr. 
Lamson  says:  "I  have  formerly  mentioned  a  church 
built  at  Stratfield,  a  village  within  the  bounds  of  Fair- 
field, in  which  they  are  very  urgent  to  have  me  offi- 
ciate every  third  Sunday,  because  we  have  large  con- 
gregations when  I  preach  there.     The  people  Hving 
in  the  town  and  westward  are  very  much  against  it, 
because  Mr.  Caner  used  to  keep  steadily  to  the  church 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  155 

in  town,  but  then  there  was  neither  church  nor  con- 
gregation at  Stratfield."  Mr.  Lamson  supphed  this 
village,  however,  with  stated  mmistrations ;  for  in 
1764  he  reported  to  the  Society  that  he  had  offici- 
ated in  the  church  at  Stratfield  "one  Sunday  in  four 
for  several  years." 

Mr.  Ebenezer  Dibblee,  a  native  of  Danbury,  a  grad- 
uate of  Yale  College,  and  for  some  time  a  licentiate 
among  the  Congregationalists,  returned  from  Eng- 
land late  in  October,  1748,  whither  he  had  been  for 
Holy  Orders.  After  the  disappointment  occasioned  by 
the  melancholy  death  of  Mr.  Miner,  he  had  acted  as 
a  lay  reader  "in  the  united  parish  of  Stamford  and 
Greenwich";  and  so  acceptable  had  been  his  services 
to  the  jDCOjDle,  that  they  "humbly  entreated  the  Ven- 
erable Society  to  compassionate  their  circumstances 
and  admit  him  to  be  their  missionary,  with  such  sal- 
ary as  they  might  think  fit  to  allow."  Besides  as- 
sisting to  defray  the  expenses  of  his  voyage  to  Eng- 
land for  ordination,  they  had  pledged  themselves  to 
contribute  liberally  towards  his  maintenance ;  and  when 
there  was  a  prospect  that  the  vacant  jDarish  at  Nor- 
walk  might  share  in  his  ministrations,  they  interposed 
objections,  and  claimed  that  the  churchmen  there  had 
neither  manifested  any  interest  in  favor  of  Mr.  Dib- 
blee, nor  borne  their  part  in  providing  the  means  for 
his  subsistence. 

The  "poor  petitioners,"  as  they  termed  themselves, 
"in  the  towns  of  Stamford  and  Greenwich,"  finally 
obtained  their  missionary;  and  the  churchmen  in  Nor- 
walk  and  Ridgefield  united  in  an  unsuccessful  attempt 
to  secure  the  appointment  of  Mr.  John  Ogilvie,  a 
native  of  New  York  city,  and  a  graduate  of  Yale 


156  HISTORY  OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

College  in  the  same  class  with  Bishop  Seabiiry.  He 
for  a  time,  "with  the  approbation  of  the  Connecticut 
clergy,  read  the  Liturgy  and  sermons  among  them  to 
their  entire  satisfaction."  He  also  officiated  for  them  a 
few  Sundays  after  his  ordination  in  1749;  but  though 
welcomed  by  the  people,  and  greatly  admired  by  them 
as  a  preacher,  they  were  thrown  into  fresh  commo- 
tion when  they  found  that  he  was  about  to  remove 
to  Albany,  in  the  Province  of  New  York,  a  step  which 
the  Honorable  Society  might  have  been  less  reluctant 
to  authorize,  had  not  the  Norwalk  people  been  guilty 
of  "imprudence  in  their  conduct"  relating  to  a  pre- 
vious appointment  for  their  Mission.  They  were  un- 
fortunate in  their  next  effort  to  secure  the  ministra- 
tions of  a  permanent  pastor;  for  the  gentleman  who, 
in  1751,  was  sent,  through  their  instrumentality,  to 
England  for  Holy  Orders,  Mr.  John  Fowle  of  Boston, 
a  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  proved  not  to  be 
"an  Israelite  indeed  in  whom  is  no  guile."  After  a 
ministry  of  several  years'  continuance  among  them, 
he  was  dismissed,  for  misconduct,  from  the  service  of 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  and 
returned  to  Boston,  where  he  died.^  The  vacant  ]3ar- 
i,sh  was  again  thrown  upon  the  generosity  of  Mr. 
Dibblee  at  Stamford,  and  others  of  the  neighboring 
clergy,  for  occasional  services,  and  Avhat  had  hitherto 
been,  under  the  ministry  of  the  Caners,  the  most 
flourishing  church  in  the  colony,  was  checked  in  its 
growth  by  these  unpropitious  events. 

In  the  same  vessel  which  brought  Mr.  Dibblee  back 
to  this  country  came  the  Rev.  Richard  Mansfield,  a 

1  "  Mr.  Fowle,  my  predecessor,"  said  Learning,  ''  sold  the  library  belong- 
ing to  the  Mission,  and  put  the  money  in  his  own  pocket." 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  157 

classmate  of  liis,  and  a  graduate  of  Yale  College  in 
1745.  He  was  a  native  of  New  Haven,  the  son  of 
Congregational  parents ;  and  it  illustrates  the  degree 
of  Puritan  bitterness  which  prevailed  at  that  time 
against  the  Church,  that  even  his  ow^n  sister,  upon 
hearing  that  he  had  sidled  for  England  to  receive  or- 
dination from  her  Bishops,  prayed  that  he  might  be 
lost  at  sea.  Another  classmate,  the  Rev.  Jeremiah 
Leaming,  born  at  Middletown,  had  arrived  safely  a 
few  weeks  before  them,  and  was  sent  as  an  assistant 
to  the  venerable  Honeyman  at  Newport;  but  he  sub- 
sequently returned  to  Connecticut,  and  was  long  one 
of  her  most  honored  and  learned  ministers. 

Mr.  Mansfield  was  appointed  to  the  Mission  lately 
served  by  Mr.  Lyons;  and  he  followed  the  example  of 
his  predecessor  in  selecting  Derby  for  his  residence, 
which  was  about  the  centre  of  his  extensive  charge,  or 
midway  between  Waterbury  and  West  Haven.  Being 
"  one  of  the  holiest  and  most  guileless  of  men,"  he  dis- 
armed enemies  of  their  prejudices  against  the  Church, 
and  gained  over  many  to  her  excellent  ways,  b}^  com- 
bining in  his  own  character  the  good  Christian  and 
the  faithful  minister.  We  shall  have  occasion  to  speak 
of  him  and  his  labors  in  future  periods  of  our  history. 

Dr.  Johnson,  in  a  letter  to  the  Society,  under  date 
of  September  29th,  1748,  glances  at  the  progress  of 
Episcopacy  in  Connecticut,  and  thus  refers  to  the 
prosperity  of  his  o^vn  parish:  "As  to  the  Church  in 
this  town,  it  is  in  a  flourishing  condition,  one  fjimily 
having  been  added,  and  more  locking  forward,  and 
thirty-one  have  been  baptized,  and  eight  added  to  the 
communion,  since  my  last;  our  new  church  is  almost 
finished,  in  a  very  neat  and  elegant  manner,  the  arclii- 


158  HISTORY    OF   THE    EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

tecture  being  allowed  in  some  things  to  exceed  any- 
thing done  before  in  New  England.  We  have  had 
some  valuable  contributions,  and  my  people  have 
done  as  well  as  could  be  expected  from  their  circum- 
stances, which  are  generally  but  slender;  but  there 
is  one  of  them  who  deserves  to  be  mentioned  in  par- 
ticular for  his  generosity,  —  Mr.  Beach,  brother  of  the 
Reverend  Mr.  Beach,  who,  though  he  has  a  consid 
erable  family,  has  contributed  above  three  thousand 
pounds,  our  currency,  to  it  already,  and  is  daily  doing 
more,  and  designs  to  leave  an  annuity,  in  perpehmm, 
toward  keeping  it  in  repair." 

The  worthy  Missionary  at  Stratford,  though  dis- 
abled for  a  time  by  the  fracture  of  a  limb,  was  most 
industrious  at  this  period  in  his  sacred  vocation.  He 
kept  his  eye  upon  other  places,  but  especially  upon 
his  native  town,  and  improved  all  his  visits  among 
his  kindred  and  friends  to  the  advantage  of  the 
Church.  The  record  of  his  ministrations  in  Guilford 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century  is  more  frequent  than  in 
any  place  of  New  Haven  County  except  West  Haven. 
In  the  same  letter  from  which  the  above  extract  was 
taken,  he  writes:  "Scarce  ever  was  there  a  people 
in  a  more  bewildered,  confounded  condition  than  those 
in  this  colony  generally  are,  as  to  their  religious  af- 
fairs, occasioned  by  the  sad  eifects  of  Methodism,  still 
in  many  places  strangely  rampant,  and  crumbling 
them  into  endless  separations,  which  occasions  the 
most  sensible  of  them  to  be  still  everywhere  looking 
toward  the  Church  as  their  only  refuge.  I  have  this 
summer  been  solicited  to  visit  several  places.  I  have 
rode  as  much  as  I  could,  particularly  to  Guilford  and 
Branford,  where  I  have  preached  to  great  numbers, 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  159 

Mr.  Graves  also  has  done,  and  I  believe  those 
jwns  will  in  a  little  time  be  prepared  to  make 

>sion ;  at  the  former  they  are  building  a  church, 

designing  it  at  the  latter. 

>Iiddleto\vn  and  Wallingford  are  also  joining,  in 
er  to  another  mission  in  due  time;  and  they  are 
ig  forward  with  their  church  at  Middletown,  where 
a  sensible,  studious,  and  discreet  young  man,  one  Mr. 
Camp,  bred  at  our  College,  is  reading  service  and  ser- 
mons, and  begs  me  to  mention  him  to  the  Society  as 
a  candidate,  and  that  he  may  hope  in  due  time  to  be 
employed  in  their  service." 

Nine  Episcopal  clergymen  were  present  at  the  an- 
nual Commencement  of  Yale  College  in  1748,  and 
meeting  together,  "consulted  the  best  things  they 
could"  for  the  interests  of  the  Church.  It  was  in  that 
year  that  Seabury  graduated,  and  the  younger  son  of 
Dr.  Johnson;  and  among  the  candidates  for  the  higher 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts  were  five  who  belonged  to 
the  Church,  in  which  number  was  included  Thomas 
Bradbury  Chandler,  afterwards  the  distinguished  ad- 
vocate for  an  American  Episcopate.  He  was  the  son 
of  a  farmer,  born  in  Woodstock,  Ct. ;  and  the  predi- 
lections of  his  childhood  were  for  Congregationahsm, 
a  system  of  faith  in  which  he  had  been  educated,  and 
which  he  seems  to  have  renounced  for  the  apostolic 
order  of  the  Church  while  yet  he  was  a  student  in 
College.  He  went  to  England  for  ordination  in  the 
spring  of  1751,  bearing  with  him  a  letter  from  Dr. 
Johnson,  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  also  a  copy 
of  the  joint  answer  of  the  clergy  to  a  paper  of  pro- 
posals in  reference  to  the  objections  of  Dissenters  to 
sending  Bishops  to  America.     The  Connecticut  clergy 


160  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

aimed  to  secure  these  educated  youths  for  the  vacant 
missions  within  the  colony,  and  for  any  new  ones 
which  might  be  created.  They  had  found  by  experi- 
ence that  tlie  natives  of  the  soil  were  its  most  suc- 
cessful cultivators,  and,  therefore,  as  fast  as  these 
young  men  declared  for  Episcopacy,  appeals  went 
over  to  the  Bishop  of  London  and  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  to  receive  them  into  their 
care  and  consideration,  and  to  allow  the  representa- 
tions and  desires  of  churchmen  in  the  most  promising 
localities  to  be  their  title  to  Holy  Orders.  "I  am  de- 
sired," said  Dr.  Johnson,  writing  March  30th,  1750, 
"by  sundry  of  both  people  and  candidates,  to  beg  the 
direction  of  the  Society  how  to  proceed;  whether 
<£30  from  the  people  can  be  accepted  for  a  title,  and, 
if  so,  to  whom  they  can  apply  for  orders,  since  they 
can  have  no  title  from  the  Society  for  a  long  time. 
They  would,  however,  in  the  mean  time,  do  as  they 
best  can;  and  I  beg  to  be  under  the  Society's  direc- 
tion and  control,  that  if  no  Bishop  should  come  over 
into  these  parts,  we  may  be  advised  time  enough  for 
them  to  go  home  in  the  fall,  vvdiether  orders  can  be 
had  upon  such  a  title,  and  from  whom." 

The  Rev.  Matthew  Graves,  the  Missionary  at  New 
London,  reported  early  in  the  autumn  of  1748,  "I 
have  visited  and  spent  a  fortnight  at  Hebron,  in  which 
time  I  read  prayers  and  preached  nine  sermons  in  the 
church,  and  at  the  houses  of  the  people;"  and  on  "my 
return,"  he  remarks,  "I  did  duty  in  the  new  church 
at  Norwich,  baptized  a  child,  and  churched  its  mother. 
The  parent  used  many  arguments  to  stand  surety,  but 
I  told  him  the  canons  and  rubrics,  and  the  practice 
of  others,  was  my  rule.     The  week  before  I  went  to 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  161 

Hebron  I  received  an  earnest  invitation  from  the  in- 
habitants of  Branford,  which  is  about  forty  miles 
hence.  I  happily,  on  my  way  thither,  met  Dr.  John- 
son, ten  miles  this  side,  at  a  place  called  Guilford, 
where  he  read  prayers,  and  baptized  three  children, 
and  I  preached  to  a  large  congregation.  Two  days 
after,  I  performed  service  at  Branford  to  a  most  agree- 
able sight  of  auditors,  who  behaved  very  well,  and 
some  of  the  chief  of  the  Presbyterians  came  to  my 
lodgings  and  returned  me  thanks.  As  for  the  people 
of  New  London,  I  am  afraid  they  will  never  be  unani- 
mously reconciled  to  a  regular  minister.  I  despair, 
though  I  shall  continue  to  act  in  the  best  manner  I 
can  for  the  glory  of  God  and  their  edification." 

Six  months  later,  March  28th,  1749,  Dr.  Johnson, 
after  communicating  to  the  Honorable  Society  the 
great  growth  of  Episcopacy  in  Guilford  and  Branford, 
where  forty -seven  families  had  conformed  to  the 
Church  of  England,  went  on  to  say:  "I  have  already 
mentioned  the  desires  of  Middletown  and  Wallingford, 
where  the  Church  has  further  increased  since  my  last, 
and  Mr.  Camp  has  continued  to  read  there  with  good, 
success,  and,  I  think,  will  be  a  worthy  and  useful  per- 
son; and  he  and  they  are  about  addressing  the  Society 
for  leave  for  him  to  go  home  for  them  next  spring, 
and  woidd  he  humljly  thankful  if  leave  would  be  given 
him  to  go  by  next  fall,  that  he  may  embark  early  in 
the  spring.  They  are  near  raising  their  church,  and 
two  more  new  churches  are  building,  namely,  at  Nor- 
wich and  Litchfield.  The  Church  is  very  consider- 
ably increasing  at  New  Haven,  where  the  College  is, 
and  a  considerable  sum  is  already  subscribed  toward 

buildino;  a  church,  and  it  is  not  doubted  but  between 
11 


162  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

that  town  and  West  Haven  (a  village  within  four  miles, 
where  there  is  already  a  neat  little  church)  there  will 
soon  be  forty  or  fifty  fiimilies.  My  younger  son  has 
read  all  the  last  fall  and  winter,  chiefly  at  West  Ha- 
ven, and  sometimes  at  Branford  and  Guilford,  as  well 
as  Rip  ton;  but  as  he  lives  at  the  College,  the  chief 
place  of  his  usefulness  is  there  and  at  AVest  Haven.'* 

The  elder  son  of  Dr.  Johnson,  so  eminent  in  the 
future  history  of  his  country,  as  a  diplomatist  and 
statesman,  occasionally  performed  the  office  of  a  lay 
reader;  and  the  Church-wardens  at  Ripton,  in  thank- 
ing the  Society  for  his  scanty  services,  and  sohciting 
the  presence  of  an  ordained  minister,  mentioned  that 
they  "were  laughed  at  by  the  Dissenters  for  having 
a  lawyer  for  their  priest,  Avhich  discouraged  many  of 
the  people,  so  that  they  would  not  go  to  hear  him." 
In  spite  of  obstacles  in  the  way  of  her  advancement, 
it  was  a  season  of  general  prosperity  for  the  Church 
throughout  the  colony.  The  mission  of  Dibblee  at 
Stamford  and  Greenwich  was  gathering  within  it 
"the  inhabitants  of  all  sorts,"  and  under  his  auspices 
.a  small  chapel  had  been  erected  on  one  of  its  out- 
skirts (Horse  Neck),  to  accommodate  the  increased 
number  of  churchmen.  The  cure  of  Beach,  "like  the 
house  of  David,  was  waxing  stronger  and  stronger." 
Mansfield,  at  the  close  of  the  year  1749,  reported  that 
he  had,  in  Derby  and  Waterbury  alone,  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-six  communicants,  notwithstanding  his 
people  had  been  sharers  in  the  great  oppressions  aris- 
ing from  the  system  of  colonial  taxation.  At  Sims- 
bury,  it  is  true,  the  prospects  of  the  Church  were 
scarcely  so  encouraging;  for  the  Missionary,  Mr.  Gibbs, 
and  some  of  his  parishioners,  were  drawn  into  conflict 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  163 

with  the  civil  authorities,  and  both  for  a  time  had 
lodgings  in  the  Hartford  jail,  because  the  costs  of 
court  and  the  demands  of  the  tax-collector  were  not 
promptly  met.  In  the  eastern  part  of  the  colony, 
Punderson  encountered  like  difficulties,  and  failed  to 
recover  by  process  of  law  what  he  claimed  to  be  justly 
his  due.  The  Missionary  at  New  London,  Matthew 
Graves,  with  the  peculiar  habits  and  prejudices  of  a 
foreigner,  did  not  readily  coalesce  with  his  brethren 
in  all  their  movements  to  protect  and  further  the  in- 
terests of  the  Church.  In  one  of  his  letters  to  the 
Bishop  of  London  he  says:  "All  Europeans,  especially 
ministers,  meet  with  a  very  ungracious  reception  here ; 
and  certain  I  am  that  there  is  a  plan  already  formed 
to  extirpate  us  entirely;  a  plan  which,  in  its  embryo, 
I  zealously  opposed,  and,  by  the  help  of  God,  hitherto 
have  been  enabled  to  defeat  it;  a  plan  which,  I  doubt 
not  to  affinn,  would  shake  the  foundation  of  these  in- 
fant churches  by  casting  us  absolutely  upon  the  mercy 
of  the  populace,  and  reduce  us  into  a  Presbyterian, 
servile  dependence."  When  the  members  of  the 
Church  of  Eno-land  in  Hebron  exerted  themselves 
to  provide  for  the  support  and  secure  the  ordination 
of  their  lay  reader,  Mr.  Jonathan  Colton,  a  classmate 
of  Leaming  and  Chandler,  and  who  was  sustained  by 
the  recommendation  of  Dr.  Johnson,  Mr.  Graves  fol- 
lowed their  earnest  entreaty  with  a  letter  to  the  Ven- 
erable Society,  in  which  he  objected  to  his  appoints 
ment,  and  used  this  vituperative  language:  "I  must 
add  that 't  is  my  conscientious  opinion  Mr.  Colton  is 
quite  unfit  for  Holy  Orders,  unless  a  covetous  man,  a 
farmer,  an  apothecary,  a  merchant,  and  a  usurer  is 
qualified  for  the  ministry,  for  such  and  all  these  he 


164  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

surely  is;  but  I  solemnly  declare  there  are  more  and 
more  notorious  reasons  why  such  a  man  should  never 
be  ordained.  All  that  I  shall  add  about  Hebron  is, 
that  inasmuch  as  they  are  very  wicked,  they  have  the 
greater  necessity  for  a  good  resident  minister." 

The  presence  of  one  in  the  highest  grade  of  the 
ministry  would  have  tended  to  prevent  or  restrain 
such  ill-natured  interference,  and  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, writing  to  Dr.  Johnson  in  the  spring  of  1752, 
says:  "I  think  myself  at  present  in  a  very  bad  situa- 
tion :  Bishop  of  a  vast  country,  Avithout  power  or  in- 
fluence, or  any  means  of  promoting  true  religion ;  se- 
questered from  the  people  over  whom  I  have  the  care, 
and  must  never  hope  to  see ;  I  should  be  tempted  to 
throw  ofl'  all  this  care  quite,  were  it  not  for  the  sake 
of  preserving  even  the  appearance  of  an  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  plantations. 

"Your  letter  of  the  20th  of  October  last,  sent  by 
Messrs.  Camp  and  Colton,  came  but  lately  to  hand. 
I  thank  you  for  it,  and  particularly  for  giving  me 
some  light  into  the  quarrel  between  Mr.  Graves  and 
Mr.  Colton.  Mr.  Graves  wrote  to  me  a  very  bad 
character  of  him,  but  could  not  conceal  his  passion 
and  resentment,  charging  him  with  very  heinous 
crimes.  His  letter  gave  me  great  offence,  as  he  will 
find  when  he  receives  my  answer." 

Mr.  Colton  was  admitted  to  Holy  Orders,  but  died 
on  his  returning  voyage  to  this  country  in  1752,  and 
was  buried  in  the  depths  of  the  sea,  —  the  second  af- 
flictive disappointment  which  the  church  at  Hebron 
experienced  in  its  efibrts  to  obtain  a  resident  Mis- 
sionary. His  companion,  the  Eev.  Ichabod  Camp,  was 
appointed  to  Middletown,  his  native  place,  with  the 
care  of  WaUingford  and  Cheshire. 


IN  CONNECTICUT  165 


CHAPTER  XII. 

MEMORIALS   OF  CHURCHMEN   IN  CONNECTICUT   TO   THE  GENERa 
ASSEMBLY;    AND    ORGANIZATION    OF     TRINITY    PARISH,    NE\\ 
HAVEN. 

A.  D.  1752-1753. 

It  has  been  stated  in  a  previous  chapter  that  the 
enactment  of  the  General  Assembly,  at  its  May  Ses- 
sion in  1746,  though  aimed  directly  at  the  suppression 
of  enthusiasm  and  the  preservation  of  the  standing 
order,  struck  a  blow  at  the  Church,  and  "excluded 
her  members  from  voting  in  society  meetings,  and 
from  having  any  share  in  levying  those  taxes  which 
they  were  obliged  to  pay"  for  the  common  support  of 
religion.  This  exclusion  was  manifestly  so  unjust, 
that  the  Wardens  of  the  several  societies,  except  that 
at  New  London,  acting  in  behalf  of  all  the  members 
of  the  Church  of  England  in  Connecticut,  memorial- 
ized the  General  Assembly,  in  1749,  to  take  into  con- 
sideration their  state,  and  pass  an  act  granting  to  them 
full  jDarish  privileges,  and  power,  within  themselves, 
to  meet  and  tax  themselves,  as  they  might  think 
proper,  for  the  support  of  their  ministers  or  the  "main- 
tenance of  catechists  or  candidates  for  Holy  Orders, 
accordmg  to  the  practice  allowed  and  approved  of  by 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel";  and 
to  choose  persons  to  collect  their  taxes,  who  should 


166         HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

be  governed  and  directed  by  the  same  laws  as  other 
collectors  of  society  rates  in  the  colony. 

This  memorial,  like  all  the  previous  memorials  of 
churchmen  to  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut, 
was  drawn  up  by  Dr.  Johnson,  but,  "by  reason  of  the 
violent  opposition  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Graves,  it  was  not 
brought  to  trial"  at  the  May  Session.  The  clergy  met 
in  the  autumn,  when  he  objected  to  the  draught  that  had 
been  made,  and  agreed  with  the  rest,  as  they  thought, 
to  allow  a  new  form,  omitting  any  mention  of  cate- 
chists  or  candidates;  "but  as  the  attorney  (who  was 
now  the  sole  draughtsman)  petitioned  for  taxing  and 
collection  powers,"  he  appeared  at  the  October  Session 
and  entered  his  protest  against  it,  as  what  he  called 
a  "spurious  address."  He  subsequently  proposed  to 
petition  for  a  law  in  accordance  with  a  memorial  of 
his  own,  and  gave  his  brethren  notice  that  he  should 
resist  personally  any  application  for  a  different  law; 
and  Dr.  Johnson,  in  communicating  the  result  to  the 
Society,  said:  "Rather  than  have  an  open  opposition 
before  the  Assembly,  we  thought  it  best  to  drop  the 
whole  affair,  and  still  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  dissent- 
ers, as  we  were,  though  our  case  is  very  difficult." 

In  1750  the  labors  of  Mr.  Punderson  as  an  itiner- 
ant Missionary  in  Connecticut  were  extended,  and  the 
members  of  the  Church  of  England  at  Middletown, 
North  Guilford,  Guilford,  Wallingford,  and  other  places, 
submitted  themselves  to  his  pastoral  care ;  and  what- 
ever ministerial  taxes  they  had  been  assessed  to  pay, 
he  ordered  to  be  entirely  applied  toward  building  their 
churches  and  maintaining  readers  among  them,  with- 
out appropriating  any  part  thereof  to  himself  On 
the  18th  of  October,  in  the  same  year,  he  sent  a  letter 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  167 

to  the  Secretary  of  the  Society,  which  contains  this 
summary  of  his  ministrations  in  one  of  his  journeys: 
"The  5th  of  September  rode  to  Middle  town,  and 
preached  there  the  next  day;  the  day  following,  at 
East  Haddam;  on  Sunday,  at  Middle  town,  in  their 
town-house,  it  bemg  quite  full;  administered  the  two 
sacraments;  their  church  is  a  beautiful  timber  build- 
ing, and  will  soon  be  fit  to  meet  in;  a  folio  Bible  and 
Common  Prayer  Book  would  be  very  acceptable  to 
them;  the  next  day,  in  a  small  church  in  Wallingford; 
the  day  followmg  gave  private  baptism  to  a  poor, 
weak  cliild,  as  I  went  to  my  native  place.  New  Haven ; 
the  Sunday  after  the  Commencement,  preached  in  the 
State  House  in  that  town,  to  a  numerous  assembly,  not- 
withstanding Brother  Thompson  preached  the  same 
day  in  the  church  at  West  Haven;  the  day  following, 
at  Branford;  upon  Tuesday,  in  the  church  at  Guilford, 
to  abundance ;  the  next  day,  at  Cohabit  [North  Guil- 
ford] ;  upon  Friday,  at  Millington  [a  part  of  East  Had- 
dam], added  there  two  more  to  our  communion;  the 
next  day  christened  three  children.  I  travelled  in 
this  journey  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles ; 
preached  eleven  sermons;  christened  seventeen  chil- 
dren; the  Sunday  before  last  was  at  Charlestown,  and 
the  last  at  Norwich ;  the  Church  greatly  increases  at 
both  these  places." 

From  this  record  it  appears  that  there  w^as  "a  small 
church  in  Wallingford,"  built  many  years  before  ap- 
plication was  made  to  the  town  and  granted,  for  lib- 
erty to  erect  an  edifice  nearer  the  centre,  "on  the 
west  side  of  Mix's  lane."  In  that  application,  the 
members  of  the  Church  of  England  speak  of  having 
"assembled  together  for   divine  worship   near  Pond 


168  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

Hill,"  and  it  was  here  that  the  parishioners  of  Wal- 
lingford  and  North  Haven,  after  being  united,  in  1741, 
in  one  church,  by  the  name  of  Union  Church,  erected 
the  temporary  edifice  in  which  Punderson  officiated. 

More  than  twenty  churches  had  been  built  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  colony  before  a  spade  was  taken 
to  dig  for  the  foundations  of  an  Episcojoal  house  of 
worship  in  New  Haven,  a  town,  then  as  now,  leading 
all  others  in  the  number  of  its  inhabitants.  The  Col- 
lege was  constantly  furnishing  candidates  for  the  min- 
istry, and  from  time  to  time  there  were  indications 
that  families  in  the  place  were  leaning  to  the  Church 
of  England,  and  desirous  of  her  services.  Dr.  John- 
son was  here  on  a  Sunday,  May  6th,  1750 ;  and  it  was 
an  interesting  feature  of  the  services  which  he  per- 
formed at  that  time,  according  to  the  entry  in  his 
parochial  Register,  that  he  baptized  six  male  children, 
all  the  sons  of  Daniel  and  Mehetabel  Trowbridge,  i.  e., 
Joseph,  Newman,  Thomas,  Rutherford,  Stephen,  and 
John. 

The  first  visrorous  and  decided  movement  to  estab- 

o 

lish  the  Church  in  New  Haven  was  made  by  the 
Rev.  Jonathan  Arnold,  the  Society's  itinerant  Mis- 
sionary in  the  colony.  While  in  England,  whither 
he  went  for  Holy  Orders,  he  obtained  from  William 
Gregson  —  of  the  city  of  London,  great-grandson  of 
Thomas  Gregson,  one  of  the  original  settlers  of  this 
place,  and  through  whom,  as  the  only  surviving  male 
descendant,  he  claimed  to  be  seized  in  fee-simj^le  —  a 
deed  or  "indenture,"  dated  March  26,  1735,  convey- 
ing to  him  one  acre  and  three  quarters  of  land  or 
thereabouts,  situate  in  the  town  and  county  of  New 
Haven,  and  now  known  as  the  glebe  property,  on  the 


IN    CONNECTICUT.  169 

corner  of  Church  and  Chapel  streets.  '  The  deed  was 
for  the  consideration  of  "five  shilUngs  lawful  money 
in  hand,"  and  out  of  "piety  towards  God,"  and  "zeal 
for  the  Protestant  religion  and  the  Church  of  England, 
as  by  law  estabUshed,"  and  the  conveyance  was  to 
"Jcnathan  Arnold  and  his  heirs  in  trust,  nevertheless, 
for  the  building  and  erecting  a  church  thereupon  for 
the  worship  and  service  of  Almighty  God  according  to 
the  practice  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  a  parson- 
ao-e  or  dwellinsx-house  for  the  incumljent  of  the  said 
intended  church  for  the  time  being;  and  also  for  a 
churchyard  to  be  taken  thereout  for  the  burial  of  the 
poor,  and  the  residue  thereof  to  be  esteemed  and  used 
as  glebe  land  by  the  minister  of  said  intended  church 
for  the  time  being  forever";  to  be  applied  to  these 
"uses,  interest,  and  purposes,"  and  no  other.  The 
instrument  was  duly  stamped,  though  it  lacked  the 
proper  acknowledgment ;  and  one  of  the  vv'itnesses  to 
its  execution  was  the  Rev.  Henry  Caner,  the  Mission- 
ary at  Fairfield,  then  on  a  visit  to  London  for  the 
benefit  of  his  health.  Mr.  Arnold  returned  to  this 
country  in  1736,  and  found  other  parties,  as  they  had 
been  for, many  years,  in  possession  of  the  land.  He 
appears  to  have  made  no  legal  effort  to  claim  it  until 
September  6,  1738,  Avhen  a  true  copy  of  the  original 
deed  was  recorded  in  the  Land  Eecords  of  New  Haven. 
About  the  same  time  he  attempted  to  take  possession, 
but  was  "mobbed  off"  by  150  people,  after  his  servants 
had  ploughed  in  the  field  for  the  best  part  of  a  day 
without  molestation  from  the  occupant  or  claimant." 
A  statement  of  this  resistance  was  sent  home  to  the 
Honorable  Society,  signed  by  the  six  Episcopal  clergy- 
men in  Connecticut,  and  Mr.  Wetmore  of  Rye,  who, 


170  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

from  nearness  to  tliis  colony  and  sympathy  with  them, 
always  cooperated  as  far  as  he  might  with  Dr.  John- 
son and  his  associates  in  their  efforts  to  advance  the 
prosperity  of  the  Church.  The  testimony  of  such  wit- 
nesses is  reliable,  and  proves  that  there  Avas  some 
foundation  in  equity  for  the  claim  under  the  deed  of 
William  Gregson.  Had  the  title  held  or  been  un- 
disputed, it  will  be  seen  that  the  gift  was  for  the  pur- 
pose of  erecting  and  maintaining  a  church  in  New 
Haven,  and  upon  that  particular  spot,  and  no  other. 
Failing  to  accomplish  his  original  intention  of  first 
erecting  an  edifice  here,  the  Missionary  started  the 
project  some  time  afterwards  of  building  a  church  at 
West  Haven,  and  no  successful  efibrts  were  again 
made  for  New  Haven  until  1752.  In  a  letter,  dated 
April  8th,  of  that  year.  Dr.  Johnson  wrote  to  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Society  thus:  "The  condition  of  the 
Church  within  the  whole  of  this  colony  hath  not  much 
altered,  save  that  it  hath  so  far  increased  at  New 
Haven  (with  West  Haven  at  about  four  miles  dis- 
tance), that  they  have  this  winter  got  timber  to  build 
a  church  of  the  dimensions  of  sixty  feet  by  forty,  be- 
sides the  steeple  and  chancel;  and  as  this  is  a  place 
of  very  great  importance  on  account  of  the  College 
being  there,  it  would  be  very  happy  for  them  if  the 
Society  were  able  to  assist  them  in  providing  for  a 
minister,  as  I  doubt  they  will  not  be  able  to  do  more 
than  £25  sterling  per  annum  themselves,  especially 
while  building.  The  Church  is  also  gaining  at  Guil- 
ford and  Branford,  which,  being  but  twelve  miles 
asunder,  propose  to  join  for  the  present  in  procuring 
a  minister,  to  whom  they  would  also  engage  about 
£25  per  annum,  and  therefore  stand  in  like  need  of 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  171 

assistance ;  and  there  are  two  worthy  candidates  likely 
to  offer  for  these  places,  but  if  the  Society  be  not  able 
to  assist  them,  they  must  perhaps  be  content  for  the 
present  to  have  but  one  over  them  all." 

There  are  no  records  to  show  the  exact  time  of  the 
formation  of  Trinity  Parish ;  but  as  the  movement  to 
build  a  church  was  generally  preceded  by  the  paro- 
chial organization,  or  simultaneous  with  it,  it  is  fair 
to  presume  that  the  common  practice  was  not  de- 
parted from  in  New  Haven.  Churchmen  were  de- 
barred from  erecting  an  edifice  upon  the  Gregson 
land,  but  they  established  themselves  in  sight  of  it, 
and  as  near  as  they  well  could;  for  on  the  28th  of 
July,  1752,  Samuel  Mix,  for  the  consideration  of  £200 
old  tenor,  executed  a  deed  conveying  to  Enos  Ailing 
and  Isaac  Doohttle  one  certain  piece  of  land,  "in 
quantity  twenty  square  rods,"  "at  the  southeast  cor- 
ner of  the  Market  place  opposite  to  the  corner  known 
by  the  name  of  Gregson's  Corner,"  "for  the  building 
of  a  house  for  public  worship,  agreeable  and  accord- 
mg  to  the  establishment  of  the  Church  of  England." 

This  deed,  like  that  of  William  Gregson  to  Jonathan 
Arnold,  was  defective  in  the  required  acknowledg- 
ment; and  the  grantor  dying  soon  after  its  execution, 
the  General  Assembly,  at  the  October  Session  in  1756, 
upon  the  memorial  of  the  grantees,  gave  them  liberty 
to  record  it  in  the  records  of  the  town  of  New  Haven, 
and  thus  completed  and  confirmed  the  title.  Enos 
Ailing  and  Isaac  Doolittle  were  influential  members 
and  supporters  of  Trinity  Parish,  and  though  not  de- 
scribed as  such  in  this  instrument,  were  afterwards 
for  many  years  its  chief  officers,  bringing  them  into 
the  trials  and  conflicts  of  the  War  for  American  In- 


172  HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

dependence.  Mr.  Doolittle.  wlio  was  a  native  of  Wal- 
lingford,  and  came  to  reside  in  New  Haven  at  a  very 
early  age,  was  more  liberal  than  any  of  his  contem- 
poraries in  contributing  for  the  erection  of  the  church, 
and  tradition  has  assigned  to  him  the  privilege  of 
being  the  first  man  to  strike  his  spade  into  the  earth 
wdien  the  ground  was  broken  for  its  erection.  Mr. 
Ailing  was  one  of  the  twelve  graduates  of  Yale  Col- 
lege in  1746,  and  besides  his  zeal  for  Episcopacy  in 
New  Haven,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  and  deeply  interested  in 
all  its  operations.  The  church  was  built  of  wood,  upon 
the  land  which  these  sagacious  and  Christian  men  had 
purchased;  and  when  the  frame  of  the  edifice  was 
raised,  it  is  said  that  the  heads  of  all  the  Episcopal 
families  then  in  New  Haven  sat  down  upon  the  door- 
sill  and  spoke  hesitatingly  of  their  future  growth. 
Eight  years  later,  according  to  a  statement  of  Presi- 
dent Stiles  in  his  "Itinerary,"  they  had  only  increased 
to  the  number  of  twenty-five  families,  comprising 
ninety-one  souls.  There  is  another  agent  to  be  men- 
tioned in  the  successful  enterprise  of  establishing  the 
Church  in  New  Haven,  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Punderson, 
ilready  spoken  of  as  an  itinerant  missionary  in  Con- 
aecticut.  It  cannot  precisely  be  determined  when  he 
removed  with  his  family  from  Groton  to  this  place; 
/)ut,  in  a  letter  written  not  long  before  his  death,  he  al- 
kides  to  the  fact  that  he  had  been  in  the  Society's  ser- 
vice upwards  of  nine  years,  "at  New  Haven,  Guilford, 
and  Branford,"  which  would  bring  him  to  his  charge 
in  this  vicinity  before  the  close  of  the  3^ear  1752. 
The  proceedings  of  the  Society  for  1753  contain  the 
following  record,  which  throws  hglit  upon  his  influ- 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  173 

ence  and  generosity:  "The  Rev.  Mr.  Punderson,  the 
Society's  itinerant  Missionary  in  Connecticut,  having 
petitioned  the  Society  to  be  settled  Missionary,  with 
only  part  of  his  present  salary,  (which  is  seventy 
pounds  per  annum,)  to  the  members  of  the  Church 
of  England  in  New  Hav-en,  the  place  of  his  nativity, 
(where  a  new  church  is  built,  to  which  Mr.  Punderson 
gave  the  greatest  -part  of  the  timber,)  and  to  those  of 
the  neighboring  towns  of  Guilford  and  Branford,  the 
Society  have  granted  his  request." 

This  brings  the  history  forward  to  1753,  and  within 
the  last  six  j^ears  the  list  of  Episcopal  clergy  in  the  col- 
ony has  been  increased  by  the  addition  of  the  names 
of  Joseph  Lamson,  Ebenezer  Dibblee,  John  Fowle, 
Richard  Mansfield,  and  Ichabod  Camp;  and  churches 
have  been  opened  or  built  at  Stamford,  Stratfield 
(now  Bridgeport),  Guilford,  Norwich,  Litchfield,  Mid- 
dletown,  and  New  Haven.  A  second  and  larger  church, 
to  take  the  place  of  the  first,  was  built  at  Redding  in 
1750.  The  pen  of  controversy  in  this  same  period 
has  been  again  wielded,  and  Mr.  Beach,  the  faithful 
Missionary  at  Redding  and.  Newtown,  has  calmly  and 
dispassionately  vindicated  the  Church  of  England, 
and  defended  it  against  the  uncharitable  attacks  of 
"Mr.  Noah  Hobart,  pastor  of  a  church  of  Christ  in 
Fairfield."  That  Congregational  divine  published  a 
first  and  second  "address  to  the  members  of  the  Epis- 
copal separation  in  New  England,"  as  he  was  pleased 
to  denominate  churchmen;  and  Avrote,  according  to 
his  own  acknowledgment,  "under  a  full  conviction 
that  their  separation  was  unjustifiable  in  itself,  and 
in  its  effects  very  hurtful  to  the  country,  and  to  the 
cause  of  practical  religion  m  it,  and  that  it  would,  if 


174  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

it  prevailed,  prove  pernicious  to  their  posterity."^  He 
is  by  no  means  the  first  prophet  of  modern  times 
whose  predictions  have  failed  of  fulfilment.  Moses 
Dickinson,  another  Congregational  divine,  ministering 
at  Norwalk,  wrote  an  appendix  to  the  Second  Ad- 
dress; and  Mr.  Wetmore,  Dr.  Caner,  and  Dr.  Johnson, 
were  all  drawn  into  the  controversy,  and  bore  their 
part  in  correcting  the  misrepresentations  and  virulent 
aspersions  of  the  adversaries  of  the  Church.  These  ad- 
versaries in  this  particular  effort,  among  other  things, 
charged  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
in  Foreign  Parts  with  a  departure  from  the  true  de- 
sign of  their  charter,  and  from  their  o-wn  professed  in- 
tentions, because  they  did  not  confine  themselves  to 
sending  and  supporting  Missionaries  among  those 
who  were  either  in  a  state  of  absolute  heathenism,  or 
at  least  unprovided  with  any  sort  of  Protestant  min- 
istrations. But  it  was  well  said,  in  answer  to  this 
point,  that  the  Society  never  sent  Missionaries  to 
convert  Protestants  to  Episcopacy,  but  to  minister  to 
destitute  members  of  the  Church  of  England;  and  as 
to  the  argument  about  the  heathen,  Mr.  Beach  re- 
ferred to  his  own  experience  with  the  tribe  of  Indians 
near  Newtown.  He  was  early  instructed  to  have  a 
care  for  their  spiritual  welfare;  and  in  attempting  to 
carry  out  his  instructions,  he  found  his  labor  profitr 
less,  for  the  Indians  "refused  to  hear  anything  about 
religion  from  him;  and  to  show  how  much  they  defied 
the  thoughts  of  the  Church  of  England,  they  called 
him  Churchman,  Churchman,  out  of  contempt,  which 
they  had  learned  from  the  neighboring  Dissenters."^ 

1  Noah  Hobart's  Second  Address,  p.  6. 

2  Examination  of  Mr.  Hobart's  Second  Address,  p.  70, 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  175 

This,  like  all  the  previous  controversies,  proved  an  in- 
direct means  of  furthering  the  progress  of  Episcopacy 
in  Connecticut.  Between  ninety  and  one  hundred 
communicants  were  reported  in  each  of  the  churches 
at  Newtown  and  Redding,  and  in  that  same  year 
(1751),  the  year  of  the  controversy,  the  Missionary 
concluded  a  letter  to  the  Society  with  these  touching 
words:  "If  I  know  my  own  heart,  I  desire  above  aU 
things  to  j^romote  the  eternal  good  of  souls;  but  all 
I  can  now  do,  is,  to  minister  to  these  tAvo  congrega- 
tions, of  which  I  hope  the  generality  are  very  good 
and  understanding  Christians.  And  as  they  can 
give  a  very  good  reason  why  they  adhere  to  the 
Church  of  England,  so  the}''  adorn  their  profession 
by  a  good  life.  I  continue  to  perform  Divine  service, 
and  preach  twice  every  Sunday  and  some  other  holy- 
days,  although  I  labor  under  much  bodily  Aveakness 
and  pain,  and  am  in  continual  expectation  of  my  de- 
parture out  of  this  miserable  life,  which  event  will, 
I  hope,  be  very  welcome  when  it  shall  please  God  to 
order  it." 


176  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

EDUCATION,    AND    THE     REMOVAL     OF     DR.    JOHNSON    TO    NEW 
YORK,   TO   ACCEPT   THE   PRESIDENCY   OF   KING'S   COLLEGE. 

A.  D.  1753-1756. 

The  strengtli  of  Episcopacy  in  the  Colony  of  Con- 
necticut was  increased  by  the  addition  of  each  house 
of  worship  and  each  devoted  clergyman.  Resolutely 
bent  on  serving  God  in  the  way  of  their  forefathers, 
the  scattered  churchmen  in  some  of  the  larger  towns 
grew  bold  under  the  repeated  attacks  of  their  adver- 
saries, and  met  them  by  renewed  and  greater  exer- 
tions to  procure  for  themselves  the  blessings  and  priv- 
ileges which  they  had  so  long  desired.  The  foothold 
gained  in  New  Haven,  and  the  establishment  of  a  Mis- 
sion in  this  place,  from  which  to  radiate  as  a  centre, 
proved  to  be  an  important  advance,  and  helped  the 
interests  of  the  Church  in  all  the  surrounding  locali- 
ties. The  attitude  assumed  at  this  period  by  the  con- 
troversial writers  among  the  Congregationalists  was 
not  of  that  gentle  and  benevolent  kind  which  wins 
over  opponents,  or  weakens  the  resolution  to  vindi- 
cate and  sustain  a  favorite  cause.  The  more  these 
desperate  divines  urged  "the  awful  guilt"  of  separa- 
tion from  the  standing  order,  and  "deterred  their 
hearers  from  such  a  dangerous  communion"  as  the 
Church  of  England,  the  more  they  were  troubled  with 
questions  which  they  could  not  readily  answer,  and 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  177 

with  citations  from  ecclesiastical  history  which  stood  in 
the  way  of  their  theories  and  declarations.  Governor 
Hunter's  description  of  the  churchmen  of  Stratford, 
as  far  back  as  1711,  would  apply  very  well  to  those 
in  all  parts  of  the  colony  about  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  They  showed  the  influence  of 
the  example  and  teaching  of  their  Missionaries,  and, 
like  them,  courted  knowledge  and  invited  investi- 
gation. Books  were  not  as  plentiful  then  as  now; 
but  they  read  all  they  could  reach  in  favor  of  the 
Church,  and  entered  into  the  controversies  of  the 
times  with  a  spirit  which  jDroved  that  they  knew  how 
to  defend  and  preserve  the  truth.  Some  of  them 
were  as  usefid,  if  not  as  great  theologians,  as  their  pas- 
tors, and  not  only  became  familiar  with  Doctrinal 
treatises,  but  with  works  on  Practical  Religion.  They 
could  cope  with  those  who  echoed  the  opinions  of 
their  ministers,  and  find  reasons  for  "separation"  from 
Independency,  both  sound  and  scriptural. 

Education  was  a  matter  which  had  been  almost 
wholly  retained  in  the  hands  of  what  Mr.  Wetmore 
called  "one  domineering  sect."  The  few  parish  schools 
established  by  the  Missionaries  in  Connecticut,  and 
taught  for  the  most  part  by  those  anticipating  admis- 
sion to  Holy  Orders,  were  imperfectly  supported,  or 
completely  overshadowed  in  their  influence,  by  the 
ample  provisions  of  the  colony  for  public  education. 
Dr.  Johnson,  in  one  of  his  communications  to  the  So- 
ciety, mentioned  this  fact,  and  ceased  thereafter  to 
press  the  appointment  of  schoolmasters  and  the  main- 
tenance of  separate  instruction  for  the  children  of 
churchmen.  He  was  widely  known  as  the  friend  and 
patron  of  classical  learning,  and  he  watched  its  prog- 

12 


178         HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

ress  at  Yale  College,  under  the  impetus  of  Berkeley's 
donations,  with  an  interest  and  a  minuteness  which 
he  failed  not  to  communicate  to  that  generous  bene- 
factor. His  writings  had  won  for  him  respect  and 
confidence,  wherever  his  name  was  extended  j  and 
"when  Franklin  was  about  to  establish  a  college  at 
Philadelphia,  there  was  no  man  whose  counsel  he 
sought  more  eagerly,  or  whose  authority,  as  its  future 
Provost,  he  was  more  anxious  to  secure,  than  that  of 
Johnson."  But  he  refused  this  distinguished  honor, 
only  to  be  importuned  to  accept  the  offer  of  another 
of  a  like  character,  the  Presidency  of  King's  (now 
Columbia)  College,  New  York.  A  number  of  gentle- 
men in  that  city,  chiefly  of  the  Church  of  England, 
but  who  associated  with  themselves  others  of  the 
Dutch  and  Presbyterian  congregations,  influenced  by 
the  example  of  Philadelphia,  engaged  in  concerting 
measures  for  founding  this  Institution,  and  in  the  be- 
ginning of  1753  obtained  an  Act  of  Assembly,  ap- 
pointing Lieutenant-Governor  De  Lancy,  then  the  Ex- 
ecutive of  the  Province,  and  other  gentlemen  Trustees 
or  Commissioners,  for  carrying  this  design  into  effect. 
Dr.  Johnson,  who  had  been  all  along  consulted,  and 
who  in  turn  applied  for  advice  and  direction  to  his 
friend  Bishop  Berkeley,  was  chosen  President  in  Jan- 
uary, 1754;  and  though  he  removed,  without  his  fam- 
ily, as  soon  as  possible  to  New  York,  that  he  might 
further  their  generous  design,  yet  he  begged  the  Trus- 
tees not  to  require  his  final  decision  upon  their  offer 
until  the  charter  should  be  passed,  and  the  question 
of  his  successor  at  Stratford  had  been  determined. 
The  charter  asked  for  by  a  majority  of  the  Trustees 
was    warmly   opposed    by   those    unfriendly   to   the 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  179 

Church  of  England/  and  much  discontent  ensued. 
But  it  was  finally  granted;  and  among  its  provisions 
was  embodied  the  condition  upon  which  the  Corporar 
tion  of  Trinity  Church  gave  a  portion  of  the  King's 
Farm  to  build  the  College  on  and  for  the  use  of  the 
same,  namely,  that  the  President,  "forever,  for  the  time 
being,"  should  be  "in  communion  with  the  Church 
of  England,"  and  that  "the  Morning  and  Evening  ser- 
vice in  the  College  should  be  the  Liturgy  of  the  said 
Church,  or  a  collection  of  prayers  from  her  Liturgy." 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  the  Vestry 
to  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  com- 
mending the  new  institution  to  their  patronage  and 
regard,  will  furnish  the  reasons  for  adhering  strictly 
to  this  provision  of  the  charter:  — 

"The  Dissenters  have  already  three  seminaries  in 
the  Northern  governments.  They  hold  their  s}iiods, 
presbyteries,  and  associations,  and  exercise  the  whole 
of  their  ecclesiastical  government  to  the  no  small  ad- 
vantage of  their  cause;  whilst  those  churches  which 
are  branches  of  the  National  establishment  are  de- 
prived, not  only  of  the  benefit  of  a  regular  church 
government,  but  their  children  are  debarred  the  privi- 

1  "  The  Gentlemen  Trustees  had  no  other  than  an  extensive  and  benev- 
olent design  to  make  the  College  a  common  blessing  to  all  denominations, 
and  therefore  only  desired  that  the  Church,  being  much  the  majority,  should 
however  have  no  other  preference  than  that  the  President  should  always 
be  a  member  in  full  communion  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  that  the 
religious  service  should  be  a  collection  out  of  the  Liturgy  of  the  Church. 
To  this  all  the  Dutch  gentlemen  entirely  agreed.  But  Mr.  W.  Living- 
ston, a  violent  Presbyterian,  (joined  with  other  leading  Presbyterians  and 
Freethinkers,)  violently  opposed  it,  and  raised  a  hideous  clamor  against 
it,  and  printed  a  paper  of  20  reasons  to  disaffect  the  Assembly  against 
granting  the  money  raised  by  Lotteries,  which  then  amounted  to  about 
£3000."  —  MS.  Autobiography  of  Dr.  Johnson. 


180         HISTORY  OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

lege  of  a  liberal  education,  unless  they  will  submit  to 
accept  of  it  on  such  conditions  as  Dissenters  require, 
which,  in  Yale  College,  is  to  submit  to  a  fine  as  often 
as  they  attend  public  worship  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, communicants  only  excepted,  and  that  only  on 
Christmas  and  sacrament  days.  This  we  cannot  but 
look  upon  as  a  hard  measure,  especially  as  we  can,  with 
good  conscience,  declare  that  we  are  so  far  from  that 
bigotry  and  narrowness  of  spirit  they  have  of  late 
been  pleased  to  charge  us  with,  that  we  would  not, 
were  it  in  our  power,  lay  the  least  restramt  on  any 
man's  conscience,  and  should  heartily  rejoice  to  con- 
tinue in  brotherly  love  and  charity  with  all  our  Prot- 
estant Brethren."^ 

In  connection  with  the  Presidency  of  the  College, 
Dr.  Johnson  was  chosen  to  be  an  assistant  Minister 
of  Trinity  Church,  an  office  which  he  accepted  with 
diffidence,  fearing  that  his  "advanced  years,  verging 
towards  the  decline  of  life,"  might  render  him  unequal 
to  the  expectations  of  the  people.  The  whole  project 
of  removing  to  New  York  involved  him  in  painful 
perplexities.  He  loved  the  quiet  of  rural  life,  and  for 
thirtj^-one  years  the  church  at  Stratford  had  been  as 
happy  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  ministrations  as  he 
had  been  in  the  endearing  and  responsible  relations 
of  a  Pastor.  One  princijjal  objection  in  his  own  mind 
to  the  change  was  his  dread  of  the  small-pox,  a  disease 
to  which  he  must  often  be  exposed  in  the  city,  and 
which  had  already  shaded  Avith  sorrow  the  remem- 
brance of  an  eventful  passage  in  the  history  of  his 
pilgrimage.  Having  taken  an  affectionate  leave  of 
his  people,  he  transferred  his  family  to  New  York, 

1  Berrian's  Hist.  Trinity  Church,  p.  103. 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  181 

and  entered  vigorously  upon  his  new  duties,  reconcil- 
ing his  mind  and  conscience  to  the  step  by  the  hope 
of  rendering  himself  more  extensively  useful  to  the 
Church  in  a  matter  of  so  much  importance  as  Christian 
education. 

Thus  Episcopacy  in  Connecticut  lost  for  a  time  its 
leading  light,  but  the  clergy  did  not  cease  to  con- 
sult him  in  all  their  troubles,  nor  he  to  be  deejDly  in- 
terested in  all  their  labors.  There  were  measures 
adopted  about  this  time,  by  the  authorities  of  Yale 
College,  to  "maintain  in  their  soundness  the  faith  and 
church  theory  of  the  Puritans,"  which  operated  hardly 
upon  Episcopal  students,  and  gave  importance  to  the 
position  of  Dr.  Johnson  as  the  head  of  the  more  lib- 
eral Institution  in  New  York.  The  estabhshment  of 
a  separate  religious  society  and  church  in  Yale  Col- 
lege was,  at  first,  unacceptable  to  a  large  portion  of 
the  standing  order;  but  the  resolution  of  the  Fellows 
in  1753,  "requiring  that  members  of  their  own  body, 
with  the  President,  the  Professor  of  Divinity,  and 
Tutors,  should  give  their  assent  to  the  Westminster 
Catechism  and  Confession  of  Faith,  and  should  re- 
nounce all  doctrines  and  principles  contrary  thereto, 
and  pass  through  such  an  examination  as  the  corpora- 
tion should  order,"  ^  though  designed  to  secure  ortho- 
doxy, was  a  step  backward  rather  than  forward,  and 
not  calculated  to  quiet  the  fears  of  those  whose  pre- 
dilections were  for  the  Church  of  England.  The  theo- 
logical controversy  which  sprung  up  at  this  time  be- 
tween the  Congregationalists,  and  the  pamphlets 
published  on  both  sides,  kept  the  popular  feeling  in 
a  state  of  excitement,  and  were  no  help  to  charity. 

1  President  AVoolsey's  Hist.  Dis.  1850,  p.  40. 


182  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

The  number  of  graduates  who  became  Episcopal 
clergymen  during  the  administration  of  President 
Clap,  which  covered  a  period  of  nearly  thirty  years, 
was  scarcely  greater  than  the  number  during  the  ad- 
ministration of  his  predecessor,  which  embraced  less 
than  half  the  same  period.  Bishop  Berkeley,  in  one 
of  his  letters  to  Dr.  Johnson,  shortly  before  his  death, 
referring  to  the  progress  of  learning  in  Yale  College, 
expressed  the  "hope  that  virtue  and  Christian  charity 
might  keep  pace  with  it."  We  can  forgive  the  rigor- 
cms  enactments  of  a  period  when  there  was  but  one 
way  of  thinking  in  the  colony,  and  when  it  was  the 
fault  of  the  times  to  take  a  narrow  view  of  the  rights 
of  conscience  and  of  Christian  liberty.  We  can  al- 
most forgive — for  we  are  persuaded  that  no  one  will 
defend  them,  looking  back  from  the  point  of  time 
on  which  we  stand  —  those  penal  la^vs,  dictated  in  a 
spirit  of  undisguised  intolerance,  and  designed  for 
the  manifest  perpetuity  of  the  Puritan  faith.  But 
after  the  number  of  Episcopal  families  in  Connecticut 
had  reached  into  thousands,  and  after  a  parish  had 
been  formed,  a  church  built,  and  a  Missionary  of  the 
Venerable  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel 
had  been  stationed  in  New  Haven,  it  would  seem  that, 
out  of  respect  for  their  wishes,  and  out  of  gratitude  to 
clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England  for  important 
services  and  benefactions,  some  relaxation  of  the  rigor 
of  these  laws  should  have  appeared,  at  least  so  far  as 
not  to  fine  Episcopal  students  for  preferring  their  own 
mode  of  worship  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  not  to  require 
the  classes,  through  the  whole  term  of  their  College 
life,  to  recite  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith, 
received  and  approved  by  the  churches  in  the  colony, 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  l88 

together  with  Wollebius's  Theology,  or  Dr.  Ames's  Me- 
dulla and  Cases  of  Conscience. 

While,  therefore,  in  the  matter  of  religious  belief, 
the  college  regulations  showed  no  more  tenderness 
for  the  churchman  than  for  the  disciple  of  Whitefield, 
it  was  natural  to  turn  to  Johnson,  opening  the  doors 
of  his  new  Institution,  and  modestly  inviting  attention 
to  the  prescribed  course  of  study.  Many,  especially 
of  those  looking  forward  to  the  Episcopal  ministry, 
gathered  around  him,  in  preference  to  being  shut  up 
under  an  inexorable  system  with  w^hich  they  had  no 
sympathy;  and  several  such,  who  had  graduated  else- 
where, received  from  King's  College  the  higher  de- 
gree of  Master  of  Arts  on  the  occasion  of  its  first 
Commencement.  With  the  sanction  of  the  Trustees, 
he  took  to  aid  him  in  his  classes  his  younger  son, 
William  Johnson,  a  graduate  of  Yale,  and  a  candidate 
for  orders,  "of  fine  genius  and  amiable  disposition, 
and  an  excellent  classical  scholar."  But  this  son,  on 
the  8th  of  November,  1755,  embarked  for  England 
for  the  purpose  of  being  ordained,  and  with  a  view 
to  assist  and  succeed  the  Missionary  at  Westchester, 
(Mr.  Standard,)  now  worn  out  in  the  service  of  the 
Society.  Two  months  only  had  elapsed  before  the 
father  followed  him  wdth  an  affectionate  letter,  "hop- 
ing in  the  Almighty's  protection"  that  he  had  safely 
reached  "our  old  mother  country,"  and  desiring  him, 
because  the  troubles  on  our  frontiers  were  ripening 
into  war,  to  use  all  possible  dispatch  and  secure  or- 
dination, that  he  might  be  ready  to  embrace  the  first 
good  opportunity  to  return.  He  had  been  welcomed 
and  honored  in  England,  both  for  his  own  sake  and 
that  of  his  father.     The  same  kind  friends  who,  thirty- 


184         HISTORY  OF  THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

three  years  before,  had  entertained  Dr.  Johnson  and 
his  fellow-travellers,  when  they  were  at  Canterbury 
on  their  way  to  London,  received  him  with  the  warm- 
est hospitality;  and  Archbishop  Seeker,  to  quote  the 
parent's  grateful  words,  "treated  him  like  his  own 
son."  He  had  been  admitted  to  Holy  Orders  in  the 
last  week  of  March,  had  preached  several  times  "with 
good  acceptance,"  and  was  preparing  to  return  to 
America,  when  he  was  seized  with  the  small-pox,  and 
died  on  the  20th  of  June,  1756, — a  sad  loss  to  the 
Church,  and  a  sore  affliction  to  his  bereaved  father. 
When  the  news  reached  him,  on  the  12th  of  Septem- 
ber, the  shock  was  indeed  terrible,  for  he  had  fixed 
his  heart  upon  having  one  son  who  might  succeed 
him  in  the  priesthood.  But  he  uttered  no  murmurs 
at  the  great  disappointment.  "The  will  of  God,"  said 
he,  "is  done,  and  I  have  nothing  to  say  on  this  un- 
happy event,  but  to  bear  it  with  as  much  patience 
and  resignation  as  I  am  able."  In  answering  some 
of  the  many  affectionate  letters  of  condolence  which 
came  to  him  from  his  friends  in  England,  he  took  oc- 
casion to  speak  in  the  most  earnest  and  pathetic  terms 
of  that  abiding  want  of  the  Church — an  American 
Episcopate.  "I  confess,"  said  he,  writing  to  an  Eng- 
lish clergyman  in  December,  1756,  "I  should  scarce 
have  thought  my  dear  son's  life  ill  bestowed  (nor  I 
believe  would  he)  if  it  could  have  been  a  means  of 
awakening  this  stupid  age  to  a  sense  of  the  necessity 
of  sending  Bishops  (at  least  one  good  one)  to  take 
care  of  the  Church  in  these  vastly  wide  extended 
regions.  But,  alas!  what  can  be  expected  of  such  an 
age  as  this !  0  Deus  hone  in  qiice  tempora  reservasiis  nos  ! 
This  is  now  the  seventh  precious  life  (most  of  them 


IN   CONNECTICUT.    .  185 

the  flower  of  this  country)  that  has  been  sacrificed 
to  the  atheistical  poUtics  of  this  miserable,  abandoned 
age,  which  seems  to  have  lost  all  notion  of  the  neces- 
sity of  a  due  regard  to  the  interest  of  religion,  in  order 
to  secure  the  blessing  of  God  on  our  nation  both  at 
home  and  abroad.  As  to  us  here,  as  things  have 
hitherto  gone,  we  can  scarce  look  for  anything  else 
but  to  come  under  a  foreign  yoke." 

In  a  letter  to  Dr.  Bearcroft,  twelve  months  later, 
after  alluding  to  his  affliction  and  the  sympathy  of 
the  Society,  he  said:  "There  are  now  four  or  five  va- 
cancies in  these  parts,  but  such  melancholy  events 
are  so  discouraging  that  there  are  little  hopes  of  any 
of  them  being  sup2:)lied  from  hence,  and  yet  they  are 
all  solicitous,  if  possible,  that  they  may  be  supphed 
with  such  as  they  have  previously  known.  The  small- 
pox has  been  so  prevalent  in  New  York  for  eight  or 
ten  months,  that  my  friends  thought  it  not  best  I 
should  reside  there,  having  two  good  Tutors  to  take 
care  of  the  pupils.  On  this  occasion  I  have  retired 
to  Westchester,  the  place  where  I  desired  my  son 
might  have  been  stationed, — where  his  service  is  ex- 
tremely wanted,  and  whose  loss  they  sadly  lament. 
Dr.  Standard  lives  at  Eastchester,  another  parish  of 
his,  where  he  makes  a  shift  to  officiate  now  and  then ; 
but  he  is  so  infirm  that  he  scarce  ever  expects  to  see 
this  parish  again.  Wherefore  that  I  might  not  be  use- 
less in  this  interim,  I  have  been  officiating  for  him 
here,  and  I  hope  not  without  some  good  effect.  Relig- 
ion was  sunk  to  a  very  low  ebb  indeed.  There  were 
but  five  communicants  at  the  first  communion,  one 
man  and  four  women;  at  the  last,  there  were  five 
men  and  seven  women,  and  the  congregation  is  much 
increased." 


186  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

-  It  is  proper  in  this  place  to  open  the  Parochial 
Register  "belonging  to  the  church  at  Stratford,"  and 
glance  at  the  entries  in  the  handwriting  of  Dr.  John- 
son. From  November  5th,  1723,  the  date  of  his 
arrival  at  the  Mission,  to  November  10th,  1754,  the 
date  of  his  final  departure  for  New  York,  he  had  bap- 
tized eighty-one  adults  and  nine  hundred  and  thirteen 
infants;  and  had  admitted  to  the  Holy  Communion 
four  hundred  and  forty-two ;  fourteen  of  this  number 
being  gentlemen  who  afterwards  crossed  the  ocean 
for  Holy  Orders.  In  this  period  of  thirty-one  years, 
his  ministrations  had  reached  into  all  parts  of  the  col- 
ony, and  of  the  Baptisms  and  admissions  to  the  Com- 
munion many  were  in  other  towns  than  Stratford. 
His  parishioners,  as  those  of  all  the  Missionaries,  were 
chiefly  European  settlers  and  their  descendants;  but 
the  record  of  his  pastoral  labor  shows  that  neither  the 
American  Indians  nor  the  poor  Africans  were  neg- 
lected. "I  have  always,"  said  he,  in  one  of  his  letters 
to  the  Society,  "had  a  catechetical  lecture  during  the 
summer  months,  attended  by  many  negroes  and  some 
Indians,  about  seventy  or  eighty  in  all;  and,  as  far  as 
I  can  find,  where  the  dissenters  have  baptized  one,  we 
have  baptized  two,  if  not  three  or  four  negroes  or 
Indians,  and  I  have  four  or  five  communicants." 

The  humble  petition  of  the  Mohegans,  of  whom 
there  were  about  four  hundred,  Hvuig  equidistant 
from  "the  church  at  Norwich"  and  "from  the  Groton 
church,"  called  for  the  continuance  at  the  Landing 
of  one  Mr.  Cleveland,  an  English  clergyman,  from 
Salem,  Mass.,  who  appears  to  have  officiated  occa- 
sionally at  an  early  day  in  a  small  church,  erected 
under  the  auspices  of  private  benevolence,  upon  the 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  187 

Green  in  Norwich  Town.  The  poor  tribe  of  Mohe- 
gans  had  no  money  to  bestow,  but  they  were  ready, 
according  to  their  primitive  occupations,  to  give  of 
their  luck  something  to  "a  good,  true-hearted  mmi&- 
ter,  that  would  teach  them  the  right  path  to  heaven, 
and  not  cheat  them  by  showing  them  the  wrong  path." 
This  was  in  1756;  and  while  there  is  no  evidence  that 
the  petition  was  granted,  its  very  transmission  to  the 
Society  proves  that  these  Indians  had  some  hope  as 
well  as  claun  to  be  considered  in  the  interests  of  the 
Church  and  of  Christianity. 


188  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

SUCCESSOR  TO  DR.   JOHNSON  AT   STRATFORD,   AND  THEOLOGICAL 
DISPUTES   BETWEEN  THE  OLD  LIGHTS   AND  NEW  LIGHTS. 

A.    D.    1756-1760. 

Dr.  Johnson  had  recommended  as  his  successor  in 
Stratford  the  faithful  Missionary  at  Newtown.  The 
infirm  health  of  Mr.  Beach  called  for  some  contrac- 
tion of  his  extensive  labors,  and  riding  so  much  and 
so  far  had  become  wearisome  to  him;  but  he  w^as  so 
attached  to  his  people  and  they  to  him,  that  the  pro- 
posal for  a  change  was  mutually  disagreeable,  and 
therefore  the  Society  appointed  the  Rev.  Edward 
Winslow;  and  Dr.  Bearcroft,  the  Secretary,  in  com- 
municating his  appointment  to  the  Vestry  of  the 
church,  under  date  of  May  2d,  1755,  said,  we  "hope 
from  the  very  good  character,  both  for  morals  and 
learning,  transmitted  of  him  by  Governor  Shirley,  Dr. 
Cutler,  and  many  other  gentlemen  of  Boston,  and  con- 
firmed upon  his  appearance  here,  and  on  his  examina- 
tion for  Holy  Orders,  into  which  he  has  been  received, 
that  he  in  a  good  measure  will  supply  the  loss  of  your 
late  most  worthy  Pastor,  and  after  his  example  go 
before  in  those  paths  of  righteousness,  holiness,  and 
truth,  which  lead  to  eternal  happiness  in  Christ  in 
heaven."  Mr.  Winslow  was  born  at  Boston,  a  grad- 
uate of  Harvard  College  in  the  class  of  1741,  and  a 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  189 

clergyman  who,  it  was  afterwards  said,  besides  "ex- 
celling all  in  the  colony  as  a  preacher,"  was  "behind 
none  of  them  in  discretion  and  good  conduct."  Among 
his  earliest  movements  was  one  to  secure  an  org-an 

o 

for  the  church;  and  thirty-three  persons  bound  them- 
selves to  Mr.  Gilbert  Doblois  of  Boston,  Merchant, 
in  the  aggregate  sum  of  sixty  pounds  sterling,  to  be 
paid  within  six  year.s,  "in  six  equal  payments  of  ten 
pounds  sterling  per  annum,  without  any  demand  of 
mterest."  The  organ  was  to  be  delivered  by  the  last 
of  April,  1756,  and  "Mr.  Doblois  was  to  take  upon 
himself  the  risk  of  transporting  it  from  Boston  to 
Stratford."  It  is  believed  to  have  been  the  first  in- 
strument of  the  kind  used  in  a  house  of  pubhc  w^or- 
ship  in  Connecticut.  In  the  summer  of  the  year 
1755  the  Rev.  Christopher  Newton,  an  Alumnus  of 
Yale,  w^as  sent  to  the  long  waiting  parish  at  Ripton, 
and  Solomon  Palmer,  a  native  of  Branford,  another 
Alumnus,  and  for  fourteen  years  the  Congregational 
minister  at  Cornwall,  greatly  surj)rised  his  people  on 
a  Sunday  in  March,  1754,  by  "declaring  himself  to  be 
an  Episcopalian  m  sentiment."  He  soon  after  went 
to  England,  was  ordained  by  the  Bishop  of  Bangor 
(Dr.  Pierce),  and  returned  to  this  countr}?^  with  the 
appointment  of  an  itinerant  Missionary  for  the  dis- 
trict surrounding  New  Milford  and  Litchfield. 

The  Society  had  twelve  Missionaries  in  Connecti- 
cut at  the  beginning  of  the  old  French  war  in  1756, 
namely,  Edward  AVinslow  at  Stratford,  Joseph  Lam- 
son  at  Fairfield,  John  Beach  at  Newtown  and  Red- 
ding, John  Fowle  at  Norsvalk,  Christopher  Newton 
at  Ripton  (now  Huntington),  Ebenezer  Dibblee  at 
Stamford,  Matthew  Graves  at  New  London,  Richard 


190  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

Mansfield  at  Derby  and  Waterbur}^,  Ichabod  Camp  at 
Middletown  and  Wallingford,  Ebenezer  Punderson  in 
New  Haven  and  neighboring  towns,  William  Gibbs  at 
Simsbury,  and  Solomon  Palmer  in  Litchfield  County. 
Twelve  laymen  from  Roxbury  and  the  adjoining  towns 
formed  themselves  and  their  families  into  a  parish 
about  the  year  1753,  and  first  met  for  worship  at  a 
private  house  in  Roxbury,  as  being  the  most  conven- 
ient and  central  place.  In  the  full  persuasion  that 
God  would  bless  their  undertaking,  because  the  Church 
was  an  institution  of  his  own,  and  having  no  prospect 
of  soon  securing  a  person  in  Holy  Orders  to  minister 
among  them,  they  made  choice  of  a  prominent  lay- 
man. Captain  Jehiel  Hawley,  to  be  their  reader, — a 
choice  which  was  repeated  for  eleven  successive  years, 
and  within  which  time  an  edifice  had  arisen  that 
was  consecrated  by  the  occasional  services  of  Mr. 
Palmer,  the  itinerant  Missionary  stationed  at  New 
Milford.  A  year  later  another  church  arose  at  Sharon, 
in  the  remote  corner  of  the  State ;  and  Mr.  Palmer,  in 
communicating  to  the  Society,  in  1760,  the  state  of 
his  mission,  represented  his  labors  to  be  "successful 
beyond  expectation,  having  now  four  good  timber 
churches,  subscriptions  for  another,  and  two  in  private 
houses."  This  language  will  be  explained  by  an  ex- 
tract from  another  letter,  written  by  the  Missionary  in 
the  same  year,  as  follows:  "Besides  the  three  congre- 
gations to  which  at  first  I  was  particularly  appointed, 
I  have  three  more,  namely,  at  Roxbury,  Cornwall,  and 
Judea.  The  two  last  consist  of  fifteen  families  each, 
and  there  are  subscriptions  raising  for  the  building 
a  church  in  Kent,  (which  they  design  to  forward  as 
fast  as  they  can,)  at  a  place  convenient  for  about  fifty 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  191 

families,  to  meet  from  several  different  towns.  These 
are  all  in  Litchfield  County;  and  since  April  16,  1758, 
1  have  baptized  an  hundred  and  twenty-two  children." 
Mr.  Newton,  under  date  of  June  25th,  1760,  commu- 
nicated to  the  Society  the  increase  of  his  charge,  and 
the  effect  of  his  ministrations  upon  a  number  of  fam- 
ilies "living  at  the  distance  of  about  eight,  and  some 
ten  miles  from  Ripton,"  to  whom  he  had  frequently 
preached.  "Of  late,"  said  he,  "they  have  been  more 
ready  to  hear  than  formerly,  and  seem  to  be  relig- 
iously disposed,  and  sensible  of  the  importance  of  at- 
tending public  worship,  and,  accordingly,  have  built  a 
church  thirty-six  feet  long  and  twenty-six  feet  wide; 
and  in  about  six  weeks  from  the  beginning  so  far  fin- 
ished it  that  we  met  in  it  for  public  worship,  and  a 
large  congregation  attended,  it  was  supposed  upward 
of  three  hundred  people.  These  people  live  at  a  great 
distance  from  any  public  worship,  and  many  of  them 
are  so  poor  that  they  have  not  horses  to  carry  their 
families  to  worship  if  they  would ;  and  others,  it  seems 
by  their  conduct,  choose  to  spend  the  Sabbath  in 
hunting  and  unnecessary  visits,  and  are  not  only  dila- 
tory in  religious  matters,  but  in  secular  affairs.  Many 
live  but  little  above  the  Indian,  and  are  destitute  of 
the  comforts  of  life."  Some  persons  of  ample  means 
were  influenced  by  this  gloomy  prospect  to  erect  the 
church  at  Tashua.  One  gentleman,  for  years  an  Epis- 
copalian, declared  that  he  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to 
expend  a  part  of  his  estate  in  providing  what,  with 
the  divine  blessing,  would  prevent  the  people  from 
becoming  heathens.  The  enterprise  was  rewarded 
with  success,  and  those  who  had  hitherto  been  so  neg- 
lectful in  religious  matters,  seemed  highly  to  prize 


192         HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

the  privilege  of  public  worship,  and  desired  Mr.  New- 
ton to  take  them  under  his  care, —  a  desire  to  which 
he  yielded,  "preaching  to  them  every  fourth  Sunday." 

The  growth  of  the  Church  in  some  localities  was 
affected  by  the  war  carried  on,  at  this  period,  for  the 
protection  of  our  frontiers  from  the  invasions  of  the 
French  and  Indians.  Dibblee  wrote  to  the  Society  in 
the  autumn  of  1759:  "The  sound  of  the  trumpet  and 
the  alarms  to  war,  together  with  a  concern  for  the 
events  thereof,  principally  engross  the  attention  of 
the  people.  Indeed,  the  church  of  Stamford  is  rather 
weakened  than  strengthened  of  late,  by  enlistments 
into  public  service,  and  by  the  surprising  removal  of 
a  number  of  heads  of  families,  through  a  very  malig- 
nant disorder  that  has  prevailed  among  my  people. 
In  less  than  a  year  past  I  have  buried  twelve  heads 
of  families,  seven  males,  some  of  them  the  best  orna- 
ments of  religion  and  zeal  for  the  Church,  and  the  sup- 
port of  it  among  us,  and  of  good  esteem  among  our 
dissenting  brethren."  In  the  same  letter  he  men- 
tioned the  fact  that  he  had  preached  several  times  to 
the  people  in  Salem,  N.  Y.,  once,  "upon  a  special  fast 
appointed  in  that  province,  to  implore  the  smiles  of 
Divine  Providence  to  attend  his  Majesty's  arms  the 
ensuing  campaign."  The  fliithful  Beach  at  Newtown, 
later  in  the  autumn,  also  reported:  "My  parish  is  in  a 
flourishing  state  in  all  respects,  excepting  that  we  have 
lost  some  of  our  young  men  in  the  army;  more,  in- 
deed, by  sickness  than  by  the  sword,  for  this  country- 
men do  not  bear  a  campaign  so  well  as  Europeans." 

Public  attention  continued  to  be  drawn  to  the 
Church  of  England  by  the  controversies  of  the  times, 
and  especially  by  the  sharp  theological  disputes  into 


m  CONNECTICUT.  193 

which  the  Congregationalists  were  plunged.  "Arian 
and  Socinian  errors,"  said  Mr.  Beach,  "by  means  of 
some  books  written  by  Dissenters  in  England,  seem 
of  late  to  gain  ground  a  great  pace  in  this  country 
among  Presbyterians,  as  they  choose  to  be  called,  and 
some  of  our  people  are  in  no  small  danger  from  that 
infection.  I  have,  therefore,  at  Dr.  Johnson's  desire 
and  advice,  prepared  a  small  piece  for  the  press,  being 
an  aitemjd  io  vindicate  Scripim^e  3Ii/steries,  'particularly  the 
Doctrines  of  the  Holy  Tiinity,  the  Atonement  of  Christ,  and 
the  Renovation  by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  also  of  the  Eternity  of 
the  Future  Punishment,  ivith  some  Strictures  upon  tvJmt  Mr. 
J.  Taylor  hath  advanced  on  those  points."  This  he  deliv- 
ered, in  the  shape  of  a  discourse,  before  the  clergy  in 
1760,  and  it  was  afterwards  published,  with  a  preface 
by  Dr.  Johnson,  recommending  it  as  a  fit  corrective 
of  the  latitudinarian  sj)irit  of  the  times.  The  clergy 
also  testified  their  approbation  of  it;  and  Mr.  Winslow, 
in  a  letter  to  the  Society,  thus  speaks  of  the  whole 
affair:  "At  a  late  Convention  of  the  clergy  of  our 
Church  in  this  colony,  at  New  Haven,  a  sermon  was 
preached  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Beach,  wherein,  much  to 
his  own  reputation,  and,  I  trust,  by  the  Divme  bless- 
ing, to  the  credit  of  religion  and  advantage  of  the 
Church  here,  he  has  with  great  zeal  and  faithfulness 
endeavored  to  vindicate  and  estabhsh  the  important 
fundamentals  of  the  Sacred  Trinity,  and  the  divinity 
of  our  blessed  Saviour;  his  atonement  and  satisfac- 
tion; the  necessity  of  the  renewing  and  sanctif)'ing 
influences  of  Divine  Grace,  and  the  eternity  of  future 
punishment;  and  to  expose  the  falsehood  and  danger 
of  the  contrary  pernicious  errors,  which,  by  means  of 
spreading  bad  books  and  other  industrious  arts  of  too 

13 


194         HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

many  men  of  bad  principles  in  these  parts,  have  been 
successfully  propagated.  The  clergy  have  unitedly 
taken  the  occasion  of  the  publication  of  this  discourse 
to  give  their  testimony  against  these  errors,  and  to 
recommend  the  doctrines  therein  inculcated  as  the 
prime  truths  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  foundation  on 
which  the  whole  structure  of  the  Articles  and  Liturgy 
of  the  Church  is  framed.  I  hope  Mr.  Beach  has,  by 
this  service,  atoned  in  some  measure  for  the  ill  effects 
of  his  former  unhappy  mistake,  and  that  it  may  prove 
a  seasonable  means  to  preserve  our  people  in  their 
steadfastness,  and  to  guide  our  dissenting  brethren  to 
that  refuge  from  their  various  distractions  among 
themselves,  both  about  doctrines  and  discipline,  which 
they  must  needs  wish  to  find." 

These  "various  distractions  among  the  dissenting 
brethren  "  sprung  from  the  seeds  sown  by  Whitefield. 
It  was  an  inglorious  harvest  of  strife  and  contention, 
and  the  reapers  in  the  fields  were  "upon  bad  ex- 
tremes." The  great  controversy  between  the  Old 
Lights  and  the  New  Lights  culminated  in  the  Wal- 
lingford  case,  a  case  which  more  than  all  others  be- 
came a  matter  of  public  concern,  and  opened  a  dis- 
tinct era  in  New-England  theology,  and  in  the  history 
of  the  "liberties  of  the  churches."  For  six  years,  the 
first  church  and  spciety  in  Wallingford  had  not  only 
been  vacant,  but  in  an  unhappy,  broken,  and  divided 
state.  After  many  fruitless  attempts  to  unite  in  the 
settlement  of  a  pastor,  James  Dana  of  Cambridge, 
and  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  was  set  apart  to 
the  ministry  by  an  Old-Light  council,  in  the  face  of 
a  protest  from  a  respectable  minority,  and  against  the 
solemn  interdict  of  the  "Consociation  of  New  Haven 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  195 

County,"  which  had  met  in  Wallingford  to  forbid  the 
ordination  of  a  candidate  charged  with  doctrinal  un- 
soundness, even  with  Socinian  or  Arminian  prochvi- 
ties.  The  consociation  and  the  council  met,  either 
by  accident  or  design,  on  the  same  day,  a  day  mem- 
orable in  the  annals  of  CongregationaUsm.  The  bold 
procedure  of  ordaining  in  spite  of  the  prohibition  was  a 
triumph  of  the  principle  for  which  the  New  Lights  had 
long  contended,  and  the  pens  of  the  time  were  alive 
in  its  censure  or  in  its  defence.  It  was  a  triumph  also 
over  the  powers  of  the  "ecclesiastical  constitution  of 
the  dissenters  " ;  and  Noah  Hobart,  aided  by  President 
Clap  and  other  leading  divines  of  the  colony,  proved 
to  be  a  champion  no  more  successful  here  for  the 
Saybrook  Platform  than  he  had  been  in  his  Addresses 
to  the  members  of  the  Episcopal  separation  in  New 
England.  Those  on  the  other  side  found  support  for 
their  action  in  the  popular  voice,  as  well  as  in  the 
voice  of  a  body  of  ministers  trained  under  the  influ- 
ence of  AVhitefield's  teachings.  The  pamphlets  pub- 
lished by  both  parties  stirred  up  such  an  acrimonious 
spirit,  and  threw  so  unsatisfactory  a  light  upon  the 
real  questions  involved,  that  many  among  the  people 
escaped  from  these  controversies  to  find  peace  and 
enjoyment  in  the  communion  of  the  Church.  The 
Independent  Society  in  Wallingford  became  divided, 
and  when  the  dissentients  proceeded  to  erect  a  new 
meeting-house,  called  the  "Wells,"  an  attempt  was 
made  to  arrest  their  work,  and  a  fight  over  the 
trenches  dug  for  the  foundations  brought  together 
the  inhabitants  for  miles  around  to  participate  in  the 
scene,  or  to  witness  its  issue. 

The  Episcopal  Clergy,  as  it  has  been  already  stated, 


196  HISTORY   OF    THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

took  no  part  in  the  theological  disputes  which  the 
Independents  carried  on  among  themselves.  They 
quietly  watched  the  progress  of  events,  and  seemed  to 
feel,  as  Chandler  expressed  himself  in  writing  to  Dr. 
Johnson  on  a  later  occasion,  "If  these  dissenters  will 
but  confute  one  another,  it  will  save  us  the  trouble." 
They  were  accused  to  the  Society,  and  to  their  friends 
in  England,  with  attempting  to  make  proselytes;  and 
this  accusation  was  urged  in  order  to  depreciate  their 
services,  and  prevent  them  from  securing  the  boon 
they  had  so  long  implored — an  American  Episcopate. 
But  Johnson  denied  this,  and  vindicated  his  brethren 
when  he  wrote  to  Archbishop  Seeker  from  New  York; 
and  lifter  referring  to  his  experience  of  thirty-one  years 
in  Connecticut,  said:  "I  never  once  tried  to  proselyte 
dissenters,  nor  do  I  believe  any  of  the  other  ministers 
did;  we  never  concerned  ourselves  with  them  till 
they  came  to  us ;  and  when  they  did,  we  could  do 
no  other  than  give  them  the  best  instructions  and 
assistance  we  could  in  making  a  right  judgment  for 
themselves.  And  so  far  were  we  from  promotmg  or 
taking  advantage  of  any  quarrels  that  happened  among 
themselves,  that  in  many  instances  we  obliged  them 
to  accommodate  matters  with  their  former  brethren, 
or  at  least  do  all  they  could  towards  an  accommoda- 
tion, before  we  would  receive  them  to  our  commun- 
ion." Winslow,  in  a  communication  to  the  Society, 
after  referring  to  the  Wallingford  case,  said:  "What- 
ever advantages  in  favor  of  the  Church  are  to  be  made 
from  this  disturbed  state  of  relio;ion  amono;  the  dis- 
senters,  I  hope  our  clergy,  and  the  people  of  our  com- 
munion, will  be  enabled  to  manage  with  such  pru- 
dence as  to  keep  ourselves  from  bemg  unnecessarily 
entangled  in  their  disputes." 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  19T 

In  the  summer  of  1758  the  parish  in  Waterbury, 
through  the  Yestry,  voted  to  give  Mr.  James  Scovill 
£20  sterUng  per  annum,  and  the  use  of  the  glebe, 
provided  he  should  get  no  appropriation  from  the  So- 
ciety "at  home";  and  also  to  allow  him  a  gratuity 
sufficient  to  take  him  to  England  for  ordination. 
He  was  a  native  of  that  place,  and  graduated  at  Yale 
College  in  1757,  when  he  was  in  the  twenty-fifth  year 
of  his  age.  He  was  to  relieve  Mr.  Mansfield,  by  taking 
charge  of  that  portion  of  his  Mission  which  embraced 
Waterbury  and  the  districts  within  the  former  limits 
of  that  town.  But  the  addition  of  his  name,  in  1759, 
to  the  list  of  Connecticut  clergy  was  balanced  by  the 
loss  of  that  of  Mr.  Camp.  Dr.  Johnson  wrote  to  the 
Society  in  1760  thus:  "I  Avish  Mr.  Camp  could  have 
had  £4:0  or  £50  at  Middletown,  for  partly  his  neces- 
sities and  partly  the  invitation  of  Governor  Dobbs 
put  him  on  removing  to  North  Carolina;  but  such  is 
the  case  of  those  that  go  from  the  northward  to  these 
southward  colonies :  he  has  lost  his  health,  and  doubts 
whether  he  can  live  tiU  he  gets  moved  northward 
again,  which  he  earnestly  desires,  and  I  have  put  his 
old  people  upon  inviting  him  back."  But  in  a  sub- 
sequent letter  he  mentioned,  "Middletown  people 
are  so  displeased  at  his  leaving  them,  that  they  will 
not  invite  him  back,  but  have  pitched  on  a  promis- 
ing candidate,  one  Jarvis,  who  is  not  yet  of  age,  for 
orders;  so  Mr.  Camp  must  e'en  take  the  fruit  of  his 
doings." 

In  1760  the  Episcopalians  in  that  part  of  Walling- 
ford  called  Cheshire  "built  themselves  a  small  church 
for  their  greater  convenience  in  the  winter  season, 
when   theu'  famiUes   could   not   well   attend  at   the 


198  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

other."  It  was  opened  in  December  of  the  same  year, 
with  services  and  a  sermon,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Scovill. 
A  parish  organization  was  formed,  with  a  Clerk,  Church- 
wardens, and  Vestrymen,  and  the  people  continued 
to  meet  on  Sundays,  and  to  be  thankfid  for  the 
privilege  of  lay  reading,  until  another  Missionary  had 
been  provided  to  take  the  place  of  Mr.  Camp.  A 
parish  arose  at  North  Haven  in  1759,  and  a  house  of 
worship  was,  in  the  succeeding  year,  erected,  under 
the  guidance  of  Mr.  Punderson,  to  whose  "pastoral 
care  and  charge"  the  people  submitted  themselves. 
Guilford,  Branford,  Derby,  and  Oxford  were  receiving 
frequent  accessions  to  their  numbers;  and  thus,  while 
the  Church  was  growing  in  other  places,  at  New 
Haven,  the  centre  of  Punderson's  Mission,  there  was 
not  the  life  or  prosperity  which  had  been  hoped  or 
expected.  It  is  true,  he  had  strong  prejudices  among 
the  people  to  overcome,  and  sleepless  vigilance  to 
meet.  For  eight  years  he  toiled  patiently  on,  and  his 
families,  according  to  the  note  of  Stiles,  in  his  "Itin- 
erary," had  only  increased  to  the  number  of  twenty- 
five,  comprising  ninety-one  souls.  Dr.  Johnson  lets 
us  into  the  secret  reason  of  this  slow  growth,  when, 
in  writing  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  the 
summer  of  1760,  he  said:  "Mr.  Punderson  seems  a 
very  honest  and  laborious  man;  yet  the  church  at 
New  Haven  appears  uneasy,  and  rather  declining 
under  his  ministry,  occasioned,  I  believe,  partly  by 
his  want  of  politeness,  and  partly  by  his  being  absent 
so  much,  having  five  or  six  places  under  his  care.  I 
wish  he  was  again  at  Groton,  and  some  politer  person 
in  his  place,  and  another  at  Guilford  and  Branford." 
Through  fear  of  being  unnecessarily  minute,  we 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  190 

may  have  passed  over  some  topics  which  deserve  con- 
sideration, and  touched  upon  others  with  too  sUght 
a  comment.  The  Hst  of  the  Missionaries  of  the  So- 
ciety for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  within  the 
last  seven  years  has  been  lengthened  by  the  names 
only  of  Christopher  Newton,  Solomon  Palmer,  and 
James  Scovill.  But  the  appeals  have  become  more 
frequent  and  urgent  for  clergymen  in  other  places, 
though  the  prospect  of  securing  an  American  Episco- 
pate, so  long  and  so  earnestly  prayed  for,  is  still  as 
dim  and  distant  as  ever.  It  is  a  contrast,  to  be  con- 
templated with  grateful  emotions,  that  in  a  place 
where  a  century  ago  twenty-five  famihes  gathered 
in  an  incapacious  wooden  edifice  to  lift  their  hearts 
and  voices  to  God,  and  to  praise  him  in  the  forms  of 
the  Liturgy,  there  are  now  to  be  found  at  least  a 
thousand  families,  and  nearly  two  thousand  commu- 
nicants, cherishing  the  same  venerable  faith,  and  wor- 
shipping the  same  Triune  Jehovah,  in  larger,  loftier, 
and  more  enduring  or  more  costly  temples. 


200        HISTORY  OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 


CHAPTER  XV. 

PROSPERITY  OF   THE  CHURCH  IN"  LITCHFIELD  COUNTY,  AND 
ALONG  THE  SHORE  FROM  NORWICH  TO   GREENWICH. 

A.  D.    1760-1762. 

The  Church,  though  bitterly  opposed,  was  steadily 
progressing  in  the  northern  part  of  the  colony  under 
the  energetic  ministrations  of  Solomon  Palmer.  At  the 
date  of  his  appointment  as  an  itinerant,  the  Society 
had  no  resident  Missionary  in  Litchfield  County,  and 
his  labors,  therefore,  reached  over  a  wide  circuit  into 
all  the  towns  and  villages  where  scattered  families  of 
churchmen  dwelt.  He  even  penetrated  beyond  the 
lines  into  the  provinces  of  New  York  and  Massachu- 
setts, and  was  the  pioneer  of  the  Church  in  several 
places  where  it  early  gained  a  firm  footing.  His  long 
residence  at  Cornwall  as  "a  teacher  in  the  dissenting 
way"  had  made  him  familiar  with  the  region;  but  his 
right  to  the  lands,  granted  by  the  government  as  an 
encourao-ement  to  the  first  minister  settliner  on  that 

o  o 

frontier,  was  not  agreeable  to  the  Presbyterians,  and 
they  brought  an  action  for  damages  against  him  for 
breakino;  his  covenant  and  conformino;  to  the  Church 
of  England ;  and,  strange  to  say,  so  little  regard  was 
paid  to  the  sanctity  of  conscience  that  they  recovered 
.£15  with  the  costs.  In  a  communication  to  the  So- 
ciety, referring  to  this  matter,  he  said:  "By  my  settUng 
among  them  as  a  teacher,  I  became,  by  act  of  the  As- 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  201 

sembly,  a  proprietor  in  common  with  the  other  pro- 
prietors, and  the  same  patent  was  and  is  absokite  and 
unconditional;  so  that  even  the  power  that  gave  it 
could  not  legally,  and  I  am  sure  not  justly,  reassume 
or  require  damages;  for  so  great  were  the  expense, 
fatigue,  and  hardship  that  I  endured  for  the  three  first 
years,  that  I  would  not  suffer  them  again  for  the 
whole  township.  I  continued  with  that  people,  before 
and  after  my  settling  among  them,  fifteen  years,  till 
I  had  spent  an  estate  of  my  own,  of  more  value  than 
the  right  of  land,  and  till  the  people  had  got  through 
all  the  difficulties  of  settling  a  new  town,  and  they 
and  I  began  to  live  pretty  well." 

But  his  conscience  would  not  allow  him  peace  in 
this  condition;  and  when  he  had  returned  from  Eng- 
land, whither  he  went  for  Episcopal  ordination,  nothing 
would  satisfy  his  now  alienated  flock  but  prosecution 
and  damages.  The  remembrance  of  all  former  toils 
and  privations  had  disappeared,  and  he  was  compelled 
to  stand  forth  in  the  attitude  of  a  defender  at  once 
of  his  personal  rights  and  of  the  rights  of  the  Church. 
To  add  to  his  distress  and  make  his  case  still  more 
perplexing,  the  rates  of  the  Episcopalians  at  Cornwall 
were  withholden  from  him,  and  went  to  the  mainten- 
ance of  the  dissenting  minister,  and  no  relief  could 
be  obtained  from  these  exactions  until,  by  his  own 
request,  his  Mission  was  made  to  embrace  only  the 
limits  of  Litchfield  County.  Familiar  as  he  was  with 
the  management  of  the  Congregationalists  in  raising 
money  for  the  support  of  their  religious  teachers,  he 
strongly  urged  upon  the  Society  the  duty  of  making 
larger  demands  upon  the  liberality  of  churchmen, 
since  many  of  them  were  as  able   to  contribute  as 


202  HISTORr   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

their  poor  benefactors  at  home.  Notwithstanding  the 
bitter  spirit  of  persecution,  he  saw  the  good  effects 
which  the  Liturgical  services  produced,  and  in  one 
of  his  letters  to  the  Society  mentioned  an  instance 
where  a  neighboring  congregation  of  Dissenters,  "ob- 
serving our  regular  method  of  reading  the  Scriptures 
in  church,  had,  in  their  last  parish  meeting,  voted 
that  a  new  folio  Bible  be  bought  for  them,  and  that 
their  teacher  shall  read  lessons  out  of  it  every  Sunday 
morning  and  evening." 

Mr.  Beach,  always  careful  to  note  the  temper  of  the 
times,  writing  from  Redding  under  date  of  April  6th, 
1761,  concluded  his  letter  with  a  testimony  to  the 
growth  of  the  Church  and  the  influence  of  the  Society, 
too  strong  not  to  be  quoted  in  this  connection:  "My 
weak  and  painful  state  of  body  admonishes  me,  that, 
although  this  may  not  be  the  last  time  of  my  writing, 
yet  the  last  cannot  be  afar  off;  therefore  I  take  this 
opportunity  to  return  my  humble  and  hearty  thanks 
to  the  Venerable  Society  for  the  charitable  support 
they  have  given  me  for  twenty-nine  years,  in  which 
time  I  have  faithfully,  though  weakly  and  imperfectly, 
endeavored  to  propagate  true  religion;  and  I  think  I 
have  not  been  unsuccessful,  for  the  number  of  the  pro- 
fessors of  the  Church  of  England  in  these  parts  in  this 
space  of  time  is  increased  more  than  from  one  to  ten, 
and,  what  is  of  much  greater  importance,  their  con- 
duct for  the  most  part  is  a  credit  to  their  profession, 
and  they  are  constant  and  devout  attendants  on  the 
worship  of  God,  according  to  the  Church.  Indeed, 
were  it  not  for  the  Venerable  Society's  charity,  I 
know  not  what  would  become  of  many  thousands  in 
these  parts  who  have  so  great  a  love  and  esteem  of 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  203 

our  Church,  and  so  great  an  aversion  to  the  Indepen- 
dent methods;  yet,  if  they  were  deprived  of  that 
which  they  admire,  they  never  would  join  with  the 
others;  nay,  the  venerable  Society's  charity  to  us 
has  proved  no  small  advantage  to  the  Independents, 
for  they  who  live  near  to  the  Church  of  England  ac- 
quire juster  notions  of  religion,  and  become  more 
regular  in  their  worship." 

The  church  at  Litchfield,  to  which  place  Mr.  Palmer 
removed,  after  residing  in  New  Milford  for  five  years, 
was  composed  of  "a  body  of  religious,  sober,  and  order- 
ly people,  steady  in  their  principles,  and  constant  in 
their  attendance  upon  public  worship."  In  those  days, 
the  privileges  of  the  sanctuary  were  prized  by  devout 
men,  and  sacrifices  to  enjoy  them,  little  thought  of  by 
the  present  generation,  were  readily  made.  The  dis- 
tance which  some  families  were  obliged  to  travel 
before  they  reached  the  house  of  God,  and  their  in- 
convenient and  slow  modes  of  conveyance,  seem 
hardly  credible  to  Christians  accustomed  to  the  ease 
and  luxurious  habits  of  our  time.  Frequently  the 
family  was  mounted,  the  parents  upon  one  steed,  with 
a  child  in  the  arms  to  be  christened,  and  the  older 
branches  upon  another,  or  else  the  whole  were  clus- 
tered together  in  a  rude  vehicle  used  upon  the  farm; 
and  in  this  way  they  were  "glad  to  go  up  to  the 
house  of  the  Lord,  and  to  give  thanks  unto  his  name." 
If  the  customs  of  those  times,  so  far  as  they  related 
to  church-going,  were  simple  and  primitive,  there  was 
yet  a  spirit,  a  heartiness  in  them  which  it  would  be 
pleasant  to  see  infused  into  the  more  genteel  fash- 
ions of  the  age  in  which  we  live,  at  least  infused  into 
the  minds  of  those  who  are  governed  in  theu^  worship 


204  HISTORY   OF   THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

of  God  more  by  comfort  and  convenience   than  by 
duty  and  principle. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1761,  Thomas  Davies,  Sam- 
uel Andrews,  and  John  Beardsley  embarked  for  Eng- 
land to  receive  Holy  Orders,  carrying  with  them 
letters  from  the  clergy  of  Connecticut  in  testimony 
of  their  learning,  good  character,  and  fitness  for  the 
sacred  ministry.  They  were  all  reared  in  the  colony, 
and  the  two  first  were  graduates  of  Yale  College.  Of 
the  other.  Dr.  Johnson,  who  baptized  him  in  his  in- 
fancy, his  parents  being  among  his  original  parishion- 
ers in  Stratford,  thus  wrote  in  a  letter  to  Archbishop 
Seeker:  "As  to  Mr.  Beardsley,  he  had  been  Uvo  years 
educated  at  Yale  College,  since  which  he  was  here 
under  my  direction  in  his  studies,  and  has  conducted 
very  seriously  and  industriously,  and,  I  believe,  will 
be  a  very  useful  person.  The  gentlemen  that  recom- 
mend him  speak  of  him  as  having  been  graduated 
here,  as  he  would  have  been  if  he  could  have  stayed  a 
few  days,  as  they  expected,  till  our  Commencement, — 
which  he  could  not  do,  being  obliged  to  embark  sooner; 
but  he  will  certainly  be  admitted  A.  B.,  though  thus 
necessarily  absent, — as  will  likewise  the  other  two  to 
the  Master's  degree."  They  were  absent  less  than  a 
year,  and  on  their  return  to  this  country  proceeded 
immediately  to  the  respective  stations  to  w^hich  they 
had  been  appointed.  Mr.  Davies  was  sent  into  Litch- 
field County,  near  his  own  friends,  and  to  places 
which  had  applied  and  provided  for  him  previous  to 
his  departure,  and  where  he  had  for  some  time  served 
as  a  lay  reader.  He  fixed  his  residence  at  New  Mil- 
ford,  and  went  as  an  itinerant  over  much  of  the 
ground  traversed  by  Mr.  Palmer,  relieving  that  de- 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  205 

voted  Missionary  of  a  large  share  of  his  burden,  and 
giving  his  own  zeal,  the  dew  of  his  youth,  and  the 
strength  of  a  robust  constitution  to  the  service  of 
the  Society  and  the  advancement  of  the  Church.  He 
was  in  reality  appointed  a  successor  to  Mr.  Palmer, 
who,  on  account  of  bodily  infirmity,  had  been  deshous 
of  a  less  extensive  charge,  and  already  designated  for 
Amboy,  N.  J. ;  but  the  people  there  were  averse  to 
receiving  him,  having  fixed  their  hearts  upon  an- 
other clergyman;  and  he  was  equally  averse  to  going. 
"I  herewith  send  you,"  said  Dr.  Johnson,  writing 
April  12th,  1762,  "an  earnest  address  to  the  Society 
from  Litchfield,  a  county  town  in  Connecticut,  desir- 
ing that  their  minister,  Mr.  Palmer,  who  is  ordered  to 
Amboy,  may  be  contmued  with  them;  and  another 
from  him,  that  he  may  be  continued  there,  or  sent  to 
Eye,  which  is  vacant."  Mr.  Davies  could  not  well 
resist  the  importunities  of  the  people,  who,  in  distant 
places,  loathing  the  rigid  Calvinism  of  their  dissenting 
teachers,  invited  him  to  come  among  them;  but  that 
he  might  spare  himself  the  inconvenience  of  frequent 
visits  and  still  keep  the  leaven  of  Episcopacy  at  work, 
he  encouraged  them  to  assemble  at  stated  times  for 
lay  reading.  In  1762,  before  the  leaves  of  the  trees 
had  begun  to  put  on  their  autumn  tints,  he  went  to 
Great  Barrington,  Mass.,  upon  the  invitation  of  a  few 
families  there;  and  writing,  in  Christmas  week,  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Society  an  account  of  his  visit,  he 
said:  "I  chose  a  clerk,  a  very  regular  and  pious  man, 
long  acquainted  in  the  church,  to  read  prayers  with 
them,  as  they  could  not  in  conscience  go  to  meeting. 
One  of  the  most  steady  among  them  was  imprisoned 
last  summer  for  non-attendance;  and  they  all  would 


206  HISTORY   OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

be  if  they  did  not  meet  among  themselves.  There  are 
near  forty  families,  conformists,  in  this  town, — people 
of  worth  and  good  fame."  Mr.  Andrews,  the  youn- 
gest of  eight  sons,  and  born  within  the  limits  of  the 
present  town  of  Meriden,  was  appointed  to  WalHng- 
ford,  with  the  addition  of  Cheshire  and  North  Haven. 
The  prophet  had  honor  in  his  own  coimtry.  Walling- 
ford  was  the  chief  seat  of  those  prolonged  controver- 
sies which  had  thrown  the  standing  order  into  such 
confusion  and  disquietude  ;  and  Wmslow,  the  accom- 
plished Missionary  at  Stratford,  had  been  frequently 
requested  to  officiate  to  the  churchpeople  there,  com- 
posed of  a  very  considerable  number  of  substantial 
persons,  and  who  prudently  avoided  entangling  them- 
selves in  the  religious  disputes  of  the  Independents, 
and  thus  gained  the  affection  of  both  parties. 

Mr.  Beardsley  was  sent  to  the  long  waiting  people 
at  Norwich  and  Groton.  They  had  been  doomed  to 
repeated  disappointment  in  their  efforts  to  secure 
a  successor  to  Mr.  Punderson,  after  his  removal  to 
New  Haven;  but  notwithstanding  this,  divine  service 
was  kept  up  in  both  the  churches,  and  the  eldest  son 
of  Punderson,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  had  read 
gratuitously  in  Groton  for  nearly  six  years.  For  some 
time  before  he  embarked  for  England,  John  Beards- 
ley  "read  prayers  and  sermons"  in  the  vacant  Mis- 
sion "to  very  good  acceptance,"  and  the  people  bound 
themselves  in  a  stated  sum  for  his  support,  when  he 
should  return  to  them  clothed  with  authority  to  exe- 
cute the  office  of  a  Priest  in  the  Church  of  God.  Mr. 
Punderson,  whose  daughter  he  afterwards  married, 
commended  him  in  a  special  letter  to  the  Society,  and 
said  of  him,  he  "is  a  person  of  unspotted  character, 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  207 

and  of  an  excellent  temper  and  disposition ;  sound  in 
his  principles  of  religion,  firmly  attached  to  our  most 
excellent  Church,  and  bids  fair  for  doing  good  service 
in  the  same,  if  life  is  spared  and  the  Venerable  Society 
show  him  favor."  Nowhere  in  the  provinces  did  the 
Missionaries  more  faithfidly  and  conscientiously  obey 
the  "instructions"  of  the  Society  than  in  the  Colony 
of  Connecticut.  Placed  in  the  midst  of  a  community 
where  Puritanism,  with  all  its  prejudices,  was  deeply 
rooted,  and  knowing  themselves  to  be  constantly 
watched  by  their  opponents,  they  prayerfully  watched 
their  own  course;  and  besides  presenting  "in  their 
whole  conversation  patterns  of  the  Christian  life,"  they 
"avoided  all  names  of  distinction,"  and  "endeavored 
to  preserve  a  Christian  agreement  and  union  one  with 
another,  as  a  body  of  brethren  of  one  and  the  same 
Church,  united  under  the  Superior  Episcopal  order, 
and  all  engaged  in  the  same  great  design  of  propa- 
gating the  Gospel."  The  churchmen  in  Hebron  made 
three  unsuccessful  attempts  to  secure  a  Missionary, 
and  each  time  thought  they  were  near  the  accom- 
plishment of  ^fcir  cherished  object;  but  the  candidates 
whom  they  assisted  to  go  home  for  orders,  all  by  a 
mysterious  Providence,  either  died  m  England  or 
were  lost  at  sea  on  the  returning  voyage.  At  length 
the  Rev.  Samuel  Peters,  a  native  of  the  place,  noto- 
rious afterwards  for  his  eventful  career  as  a  clergy- 
man, and  his  extravagant  and  incredible  statements 
as  a  historian,  appeared  among  them,  and  in  his  re- 
port to  the  Secretary,  dated  April  13,  1761,  he  wrote: 
"The  people  belonging  to  the  Church  at  Hebron  seem 
religiously  attentive  to  my  instructions,  and  desire 
me,  in  their  behalf,  to  say  they  return  all  thanks  that 


208  HISTORY  OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

hearts  filled  with  gratitude  are  able,  to  you  and  to 
the  honorable  Society  for  your  gracious  notice  in 
sending  them  their  desire  in  a  worthy  Missionary; 
and,  to  enlarge  their  minds  and  fit  them  for  a  better 
world,  a  number  of  books  also,  which  (by  God's  bless- 
ing) shall  meet  with  their  desired  eflfect."  As  fast  as 
the  vacant  missions  were  filled,  other  places,  at  this 
period,  called  loudly  for  the  services  of  the  Church  of 
England.  Occasionally  a  faithful  Missionary  w\as  re- 
moved to  a  distant  and  more  promising  field  of  labor; 
and  the  veteran  Gibbs  at  Simsbury  was  overtaken 
by  indisposition  and  a  melancholy  which  became  so 
deeply  fixed  that  for  three  years  he  was  wholly  inca- 
pable of  exercising  his  clerical  functions.  He  went 
to  his  rest  with  the  cloud  upon  his  mind  which  had 
hung  over  it  so  long;  but  Roger  Viets,  a  native  of 
the  town,  and  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  supplied 
his  place  as  a  lay  reader,  and,  chiefly  under  his  influ- 
ence in  this  capacity,  another  small  church  was  built 
in  a  remote  part  of  the  township.  When  he  proceeded 
to  England  to  receive  Holy  Orders,  he  carried  with 
him  the  desire  of  the  people,  and  the  evidence  of  their 
provision,  besides  the  recommendation  of  the  Connec- 
ticut clergy.  "I  had  thought,"  says  Dr.  Johnson, 
writing  to  the  Secretary,  December  1,  1762,  "that 
Hartford  and  Simsbury  might  be  joined  in  one  mis- 
sion, but  I  find  it  will  not  do;  for  Mr.  Yiets  would 
have  his  hands  full  in  the  care  of  three  distinct  dis- 
tricts; and  besides  the  Church  has  so  increased  at  Hart- 
ford, not  by  means  of  any  parties  or  contentions,  but 
by  the  still  voice  of  reason  and  benevolence,  that  they 
are  likely  to  have  a  flourishing  church,  consisting  of 
a  number  of  good  famihes,  many  by  accession.     They 


IN    CONNECTICUT.  209 

have  founded  and  are  zealously  carrying  on  a  consider- 
ably large  and  decent  church,  and  think  thc}^  sliall  un- 
doubtedly raise  £100  per  annum,  proclamation-money, 
for  a  minister.  However,  it  being  the  metropolitical 
town  of  the  province,  they  cannot  well  do  without 
£50  sterling  at  least,  if  it  could  be  obtained,  in  order 
to  support  him  in  a  manner  suitable  to  such  a  station. 
They  are  extremely  desirous,  and  purpose,  in  a  few 
months,  earnestly  to  apply  to  the  Society  for  Mr.  Wins- 
low  of  Stratford  to  be  their  minister,  who  is  indeed 
by  much  the  most  suitable  person  they  could  have; 
and  his  condition  is  such,  having  a  large,  expensive, 
and  growing  family,  that  he  cannot  tolerably  subsist 
at  Stratford,  though  they  do  their  utmost  for  him." 

The  chain  of  parishes,  running  through  the  shore 
towns  from  Norv\-ich  to  Greenwich,  was  now  for  the 
most  part  in  a  prosperous  state.  Mr.  Graves,  the 
Missionary  at  New  London,  in  his  communication  to 
the  Society  in  midsummer,  1761,  exclaimed,  with  an 
ecstasy  of  delight:  "Blessed  be  God,  my  parishioners 
increase  so  that  I  am  amazed  to  think  whence  they 
come;  several  have  lately  been  added,  not  only  ex- 
ternally, but  practically;  they  are  doers  as  well  as 
hearers,  and  those  of  the  better  sort  to  whom,  I  trust 
in  God,  others  now  under  preparation  will  soon  be 
joined.  I  think  my  catechumens  last  Sunday  were 
above  forty,  growing,  I  hope,  in  love  and  favor  with 
God  and  man." 

The  churchmen  in  Guilford,  becoming  almost  wholly 
neglected  by  Mr.  Punderson  in  consequence  of  the 
urgent  demand  for  his  services  in  other  places,  applied 
to  the  Society  to  be  erected  into  an  independent  Mis- 
sion, including  Killingworth  and  North  Guilford;  and 
u 


210  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

Mr.  Hubbard,  "a  hopeful  youth,  bred  at  New  Haven 
College,"  and  who  for  some  time  prosecuted  his  studies 
in  Hebrew  and  Divinity  under  the  direction  of  Dr. 
Johnson  in  New  York,  was  selected  to  be  their  clergy- 
man, as  he  had  been  their  reader,  so  soon  as  he  should 
be  permitted  to  go  home  for  Holy  Orders.  When  he 
went,  in  the  autumn  of  1763, — accompanied  by  Abra- 
ham Jarvis,  in  after-life  his  intimate  friend  and  com- 
panion,—  he  bore  with  him  a  letter  from  his  illustrious 
teacher  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  containing 
these  earnest  and  affectionate  words:  "What  makes 
me,  my  Lord,  the  more  solicitous  in  this  case  is,  that 
Guilford  is  my  own  native  town,  where  I  have  a 
brother  (who  is  Mr.  Hubbard's  father-in-law),  and  sis- 
ters and  sundry  nephews,  who  are  all  very  dear  to  me, 
under  whose  influence  the  Church  for  twenty  years 
has  been  laboring  to  emerge,  through  many  difficulties 
and  discouragements.  I  lately  made  them  a  visit,  and 
preached  there.  I  found  fifty  families  and  as  many 
communicants,  and  there  are  at  least  ten  more  within 
ten  miles,  and  probably  many  others  that  would  ap- 
pear, if  they  could  be  sure  of  a  minister." 

Mr.  AVinslow  reported  of  his  parish  at  Stratford,  in 
July,  1762:  "It  is  with  pleasure  I  can  yet  say,  in  be- 
half of  the  people  of  my  particular  charge,  that  they 
are  in  general  regular  and  well  disposed,  attached  to 
the  communion  of  the  Church  from  solid  principles, 
and  from  a  proper  sense  of  the  happy  tendency  of  the 
means  therein  afforded  for  all  needful  improvement 
in  Christian  knowledge  and  practice;  that  they  are 
careful  to  preserve  harmony  among  themselves,  and 
peace  and  charity  with  their  brethren  of  the  other 
persuasions.     The  number  of  communicants  now  Hv- 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  211 

ing  is  more  than  150,  and  we  have  usually  between 
90  and  100  at  the  stated  monthly  celebration  of  that 
Holy  Sacrament."  Mr.  Newton,  besides  having  added 
another  church  to  his  charge  in  North  Stratford,  at  a 
place  now  called  Tashua,  the  erection  of  which  has 
been  already  mentioned,  found  himself  straitened  for 
room  in  his  parish  church  at  Ripton,  and  his  people, 
therefore,  proceeded  to  construct  galleries  therein,  to 
accommodate  the  increased  congregations.  At  North 
Fairfield,  (now  Weston,)  within  the  limits  of  the  Mis- 
sion of  Mr.  Lamson,  a  church  was  built,  and  so  far 
completed  as  to  be  ready  for  occupancy  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1763.  It  was  forty  feet  long,  thirty  wide,  and 
two  stories  high,  with  galleries.  About  the  same 
time  another  church,  of  larger  dimensions,  arose  at 
Danbury,  which  was  opened,  on  its  partial  completion, 
with  services  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dibblee,  a  native  of 
that  town,  and  supplied  with  occasional  ministrations 
by  Leaming,  who  seems  to  have  been  the  pioneer, 
and  by  Beach,  the  unwearied  Missionary  at  Newtown. 
Danbury  was  the  seat  of  a  heresy  called  Sandemar 
nianism,  from  Robert  Sandeman,  the  name  of  its  first 
propagator;  and  "our  Church,"  said  one  of  her  clergy, 
referring  to  the  direct  influence  of  his  erroneous 
teachings,  "seems  at  present  to  be  a  sanctuary  from 
infidelity  on  the  one  hand,  and  enthusiasm  on  the 
other." 


212  HISTORY  OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 


CHAPTER   XVL 

MR.   ST.   GEORGE   TALBOT;   BITTER  OPPOSITION  TO   THE.  CHURCH; 
DR.  JOHNSON'S   RETURN   TO   STRATFORD. 

A.  D.    1762-1763. 

A  CHARITABLE  layman,  Mr.  St.  George  Talbot,  residing 
in  the  Province  of  New  York,  had  assisted  the  people 
in  Danbury  towards  the  erection  of  their  church,  and 
he  was  one  of  the  gratified  congregation  who  wit- 
nessed the  opening  services,  and  favored  with  liis 
patronage  the  effort  to  plant  the  seeds  of  Episcopacy 
in  a  community  of  divided  religious  sentiments.  He 
dedicated  the  energies  of  an  active  life  and  the  re- 
sources of  an  ample  fortune  to  strengthen  its  influ- 
ence in  New  York  and  Connecticut,  and  his  liberal 
benefactions  are  associated  with  the  early  history  of 
several  important  parishes  in  Fairfield  County.  In 
1762  he  made  a  tour  of  observation  into  a  section 
of  New  York  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dibblee,  of  wliom  he 
reported  that  he  was  "indefixtigable  in  his  endeavors 
to  serve  the  interests  of  true  religion  and  our  holy 
Church,  whose  services  I  find  universally  acceptable, 
and  his  life  agreeable  to  his  public  character."  A  year 
later  he  took  a  journey  into  Connecticut,  and  was 
present  at  the  Convention  in  Ripton,  a  sketch  of 
which  he  communicated  to  the  Society  in  these  words: 
"The  Rev.  Dr.  Johnson,  being  requested  to  preach, 
dehvered    an   excellent,   pathetical,   spirited    sermon 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  213 

adapted  to  the  occasion,  and  acceptable  to  the  clergy 
and  all  who  had  the  pleasure  to  hear  him,  pressing 
them  to  the  utmost  fidelity  and  diligence  in  doing  the 
duties  of  their  respective  cures.  Twelve  Missionaries 
were  present,  who  appear  to  be  ornaments  to  their 
ecclesiastical  profession,'  and  very  usefully  employed, 
having  had  the  opportunity  to  acquaint  myself  with 
the  state  of  most  of  their  respective  Missions."  He 
mentioned  the  attendance  also  of  four  or  five  promis- 
ing young  gentlemen,  candidates  for  Holy  Orders. 

The  candidates  throughout  the  colon}^  did  not  in- 
crease as  rapidly  as  the  members  of  the  Church  of 
Eno'land.  The  flocks  in  different  localities  "were 
troubled  because  there  was  no  shepherd."  In  vain 
did  they  plead  for  those  ministrations  which  they  had 
begun  to  cherish  in  their  hearts,  and  with  which 
alone  their  consciences  could  be  satisfied.  "The 
people  of  this  parish,"  said  the  pure-minded  Learning, 
writing  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Society  from  Norwalk 
in  the  spring  of  1761,  "have  completely  finished  their 
church,  and  purchased  a  good  bell  of  600  lbs.  weight; 
they  give  constant  attendance  upon  public  worship, 
and  appear  to  do  it  from  a  sense  of  duty,  by  their 
behavior  in  the  house  of  God.  I  have  told  the  So- 
ciety that  I  have  taken  care  of  Ridgefield,  sixteen 
miles  from  this  place;  the  number  of  heads  of  fami- 
lies there  is  eighty-seven,  who  entreat  the  Society  to 
allow  them  a  Mission  of  £20  per  annum,  and  they  will 
bind  themselves  to  raise  an  addition  sufficient  to  sup- 
port a  Missionary-,  if  the  Society  think  proper  to  do 
so.  I  shall  gladly  relinquish  the  ministerial  rates  of 
that  parish,  which  now  belong  to  me,  as  it  will  advance 
the  Church  of  Christ;  I  hope  and  beg  it  may  be  done. 


214         HISTORY   OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

I  am  fully  persuaded  that  the  Society,  if  they  knew 
the  religious  state  of  this  government,  would  be  of 
opinion  that  there  is  no  part  where  Missionaries  might 
do  more  good  than  here,  for  the  division  of  those  who 
do  not  join  in  our  communion  is  very  great.  Some 
run  wild  with  enthusiasm,  while  others,  to  avoid  that 
extreme,  run  into  another  as  bad  or  worse." 

With  a  mind  fidl  almost  to  bursting  of  the  great 
subject,  he  said,  in  a  communication  to  the  same  gen- 
tleman two  years  afterwards:  "All  I  now  desire  is, 
that  those  under  my  care  may  be  Christians  indeed; 
then  there  would  be  no  fear  of  the  future  growth  of 
the  Church,  notwithstanding  the  great  opposition  we 
meet  with  from  the  dissenters.  I  hope  there  will  be 
means  found  out  to  support  the  Church  in  this  gov- 
ernment; otherwise  I  fear  there  will  be  no  religion 
here  in  the  next  generation.  In  order  that  it  might 
be  supported  in  the  purity  of  it,  there  is  much  need  of 
a  Bishop  to  confirm,  ordain,  and  govern.  Every  body 
wants  a  head,  and  when  we  have  one,  may  we  have 
a  sound  head  and  a  religious  heartr 

As  indicated  in  the  above  extract,  there  was  at  this 
period  a  bitter  hostility  to  Episcopacy.  "Never,"  said 
Winslow,  "did  a  malignant  spirit  of  opposition  to  the 
Church  rage  with  greater  vehemence  than  of  late. 
The  most  indecent  reflections  upon  the  Venerable  So- 
ciety and  the  General  Constitution  of  the  Church,  and 
the  most  flagrant  misrepresentations  of  the  state  of 
the  Church  in  these  colonies,  and  the  most  false  and 
abusive  personal  invectives  against  the  clergy,  have 
lately  appeared  in  print  among  us,  and  all  this  at  a 
time  when  there  has  not  been  the  least  particular 
cause  to  provoke  such  a  temper;  on  the  contrary, 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  215 

wherever  the  Church  has  been  planted,  the  conduct 
of  its  ministers  and  members  has  been  so  charitable 
as  at  least  to  give  no  just  occasion  of  offence.  No 
cause  has,  in  truth,  excited  all  this  virulence,  but  that 
the  Church  has  everywhere  grown  and  increased, 
and  the  prospect  is  continually  enlarging  of  its  still 
further  and  substantial  increase;  and  its  condition  is 
such  in  these  colonies  as  that,  since  the  glorious  con- 
elusion  of  the  war,  and  the  happy  establishment  of 
peace,  with  such  an  accession  of  territory  on  this  con- 
tinent, the  dissenters  are  from  hence  jealous  the 
Church  may  meet  with  some  further  encouragement, 
and,  perhaps,  enjoy  those  essential  parts  of  her  wor- 
ship and  discipline  which  Ave  have  hitherto  been  desti- 
tute of;  and  they  know  not  how  to  bear  the  thoughts 
of  our  having  the  same  complete  exercise  of  religion 
in  our  ways  as  they  have  in  theirs.  They  may  really 
thank  themselves  for  no  small  part  of  the  growth  of 
the  Church,  at  which  they  are  now  so  enraged.  Their 
continual  disputes  and  endless  dissensions  have  drawn 
sensible  peoj)le  and  serious  persons  to  take  refuge  in 
our  glorious  constitution.  They  know  they  cannot 
charge  the  Church  professors  or  clergy  with  having 
made  use  of  any  of  their  own  arts  to  withdraw  their 
peoj^le,  and  that  Ave  have  been  AAdiolly  unconcerned, 
and  in  no  instance  intermeddled  AAith  their  disputes 
and  contentions.  The  increase  the  Church  has  re- 
ceived by  means  of  these  confusions  has  been  by  its 
obvious  superior  AAorth  and  excellence." 

It  Avas  true,  also,  that  a  large  part  of  the  more  se- 
rious and  thinking  Congregationalists  detested  the 
course  of  their  ministers,  and  in  some  instances  their 
injustice  and  gross  misrepresentations  had  the  effect 


216  HISTORY  OF  THE   EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

to  produce  a  more  favorable  impression  of  the  claims 
of  the  Church,  and  really  excited  a  curiosity  to  be 
informed  of  them,  so  that  "the  mischief  designed  by 
the  heated  leaders  and  instigators  of  the  opposition 
to  Episcopacy  did  but  recoil  upon  their  own  heads, 
and  lessen  their  influence  even  among  their  own  sect." 
From  the  death  of  his  wife,  in  the  summer  of  1758, 
with  whom  he  had  been  happilj^  united  for  more  than 
thirty-two  years.  Dr.  Johnson  began  to  look  towards 
Stratford  as  the  place  where  he  might  pass,  in  retire- 
ment, the  evening  of  his  days.  He  sighed  for  its  fresh 
and  healthful  air.  While  he  plied  all  the  energies  of  his 
vigorous  mind  to  give  permanent  shape  to  the  plans 
of  the  College  and  to  advance  its  prosperity,  he  yet 
so  dreaded  that  contagious  disorder,  which  reappeared 
from  time  to  time  in  the  city  and  drove  him  from  its 
limits,  that  he  longed  to  be  released  from  his  official 
cares  and  restored  to  his  rural  residence.  During  the 
periods  of  his  forced  absence,  his  thoughts  were  inces- 
santly upon  the  welfare  of  the  Institution,  and  though " 
he  had  every  confidence  in  the  ability  and  fidelity  of 
his  fellow-laborers,  yet  he  knew  that  his  own  presence 
was  needed  to  guide  their  movements  and  inspect  the 
general  operations.  It  was  not  his  intention  so  soon 
to  sever  himself  from  the  concerns  of  the  College. 
He  expected  not  to  take  this  step  until  the  new  man, 
sent  out  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  had  been 
well  tiiied,  and  found  worthy  to  be  his  successor.  But 
with  the  pressure  of  declining  age,  there  was  suddenly 
added  another  weight  to  the  heavy  burden  of  domes- 
tic sorrow.  Three  years  after  the  death  of  his  first 
wife,  he  married  the  widow  of  his  old  friend  and  pa- 
rishioner in  Stratford,  William  Beach,  and  the  mother 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  217 

of  his  son's  wife.  With  her  he  returned  to  New  York, 
at  the  close  of  the  summer  vacation,  and  industriously 
renewed  his  efforts  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  the 
College.  But,  alas!  at  the  expiration  of  eighteen 
months,  that  destroyer,  the  small-pox,  which  had  al- 
ready deprived  him  of  one  son,  reentered  his  house- 
hold and  fell  with  fatal  violence  upon  this  beloved 
companion.  Out  of  tender  regard  for  his  welfare,  she 
urged  hun  away  from  her  sick -chamber,  and  com- 
mending her  to  God,  he  retired  to  the  country-seat 
of  a  friend  three  miles  distant,  and  awaited,  with  pain- 
ful anxiety,  tidings  of  the  result.  When  the  intelli- 
gence of  her  death  had  reached  him,  he  wrote  to  his 
son  with  exquisite  tenderness:  "The  thing  which  I 
feared  is  come  upon  me!  God's  mil  is  done!  Your 
good  mother  died  on  Wednesday  evening  the  9th.  .  .  . 
This  event,  my  son,  is  indeed  a  most  shocking  disap- 
pointment to  me,  as  we  reckoned  (perhaps  too  much) 
within  three  or  four  months  of  retiring;  together 
and  spending  the  remainder  of  our  days  among 
our  children  and  theirs  with  much  tranquillity;  but 
now,  if  I  live,  I  must  come  alone."  It  was,  indeed, 
the  blow  which  made  him  powerless  for  any  further 
oversight  of  the  Institution.  It  broke  him  up  at  once, 
and  forced  him  into  immediate  retirement.  In  his 
truly  compassionable  circumstances,  "and  with  a  heart 
torn  by  grief,"  he  sent  in  his  resignation  to  the  Gov- 
ernors, and  "hired  an  able  hand  with  a  sleigh"  to 
bring  him  to  Stratford,  where  he  arrived  February 
25th,  1763,  sixteen  days  after  the  death  of  his  wife. 
Being  now  advanced  in  years,  and  resolved  not  to  be 
drawn  from  this  retirement,  he  took  up  his  residence 
with  his  son,  who  "built  him  an  elegant  apartment" 


218         HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

attached  to  his  own  mansion.  Writing  from  Strat- 
ford to  the  Secretary  of  the  Society,  in  May  follow- 
ing, he  said:  "I  shall,  for  the  future,  date  from  hence, 
as  I  am  retired  hither  to  reside  here  the  little  time 
that  remains  to  me,  being  sixty-seven.  Indeed,  I 
thank  God  that  I  am  in  perfect  health,  only  that  the 
tremor  in  my  hand  increases  much  with  my  years; 
but  the  care  and  labor  of  the  College  grew  very  tedi- 
ous to  me,  and  I  was  wearied  of  my  manner  of  living 
in  that  populous  town  and  public  station,  and  wanted 
retirement."  And  then  referring  to  the  death  of  his 
wife,  and  its  effect  upon  his  resignation,  he  added: 
"This  unhappy  event  makes  me  the  more  indifferent 
whether  I  take  any  public  charge  again.  If,  indeed, 
there  were  any  mission  to  be  had  that  could  better 
the  worthy  Mr.  Winslow's  circumstances,  I  would  will- 
ingly have  tr.ken  this  and  no  other;  but  as  none  ap- 
pears, I  am  content  to  live  here,  and  will  do  what 
little  good  I  can  in  a  private  capacity." 

Very  soon,  however,  the  opportunity  was  offered  of 
replacing  him  in  duty  at  Stratford.  Thus  he  exer- 
cised in  the  decline  of  life  all  the  offices  of  Christian 
love  and  watchfulness  for  the  same  parish  to  which  he 
first  came  in  the  freshness  and  buoyancy  of  his  youth 
forty  years  before,  Mr.  Winslow  had  repeatedly  ex- 
pressed a  desire  to  be  transferred  to  a  field  where  his 
income  might  be  adequate  to  his  expenses.  "I  have  no 
cause,"  said  he,  in  a  letter  dated  July,  1763,  "for  any 
uneasiness  here,  but  for  the  insufficiency  of  my  support, 
which  would  make  it  needful  for  me  to  embrace  an 
opportunity  of  being  nearer  my  friends,  under  some 
better  circumstances,  for  the  benefit  of  my  family.  As 
you  are  pleased,  in  so  kind  a  manner,  to  ask  me  to  be 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  219 

explicit  on  this  head,  I  would  acquaint  you  that,  besides 
the  Venerable  Society's  bounty,  I  receive  £30  ster- 
ling per  annum  from  this  congregation,  arising  from 
an  assessment  on  the  ratable  estates,  made  by  virtue 
of  a  law  of  the  colony,  which  obliges  the  professors  of 
the  Church  to  pay  their  proportion  of  this  assessment 
to  the  minister  under  whose  care  they  are.  We  are 
also  provided  here  with  a  decent  house,  and  two  acres 
of  land  adjoining,  and  about  as  much  more  at  a  little 
distance;  these  articles  make  the  whole  advantage  of 
this  living,  which,  I  believe,  may  at  the  extent  be 
estimated  at  £100  sterlmg  value.  But  this  I  find 
too  unequal  to  the  unavoidable  charge  of  a  family  of 
ten  children,  and  the  expense  of  absolute  necessities 
to  support  the  reputation  of  the  Church,  and  of  my 
office,  in  a  place  of  so  much  resort  as  this;  though  I 
endeavor  at  as  thrifty  a  management  of  my  mcome  as 
possible;  and,  were  it  not  for  the  dependence  I  have, 
and  the  assistance  I  receive  from  my  friends  in  Bos- 
ton, I  could  not  live  without  much  difficulty,  or  with 
proper  decency.  It  appeared  probable  I  might  be 
under  some  better  advantages  at  Hartford,  and  I  was 
in  hopes  from  the  general  desires  of  the  people  there, 
joined  to  the  opinion  and  advice  of  my  brethren  of 
the  clergy  and  other  friends,  for  my  removal,  that,  if 
my  life  has  hitherto  in  any  degree  been  useful  to  the 
purposes  of  my  office,  I  might  not  be  less  so  there; 
and  it  would  have  brought  me  sixty  miles  nearer 
Boston.  But  I  cheerfully  resign  myself  to  the  con- 
duct of  God's  good  providence,  and  fully  rest  m  the 
Society's  wisdom." 

He  was  finally  appointed  to  the  vacant  Mission  at 
Brain  tree,  Mass. ;  and  in  communicating  to  the  Society 


220         HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

his  acceptance  of  it  and  the  rehnquishment  of  his  sal- 
ary at  Stratford,  from  Christmas  1763,  he  felt  that  it 
was  an  occasion  of  gratitude  to  God  that  he  could 
leave  the  Mission  with  the  general  affection  of  the 
people,  and  return  it  to  the  Doctor  in  the  like  reputa- 
ble condition  in  which  he  had  received  it,  with  perhaps 
some  increase  of  its  strength,  "As  to  Hartford,"  said 
Johnson,  "the  clergy  think  to  take  turns  there  once 
a  month,  that  they  may  not  be  quite  discouraged." 

In  the  spring  of  1760,  the  Rev.  James  Wetmore, 
one  of  that  little  band  who  nobly  stood  up  for  Epis- 
copacy in  the  Library  of  Yale  College,  and  who  had 
so  long  acted  with  the  clergy  of  Connecticut,  sharing 
in  their  joys  and  in  their  sorrows,  died  of  the  small- 
pox, at  his  Mission  in  Eye,  "a  worthy,  learned,  and 
faithful  minister,"  greatly  lamented.  A  division  arose 
among  the  people  about  his  successor.  The  legal 
constitution  of  the  Parish  was  such  that  the  minister 
must  be  called  by  the  Vestry,  and  inducted  into  office 
by  the  Governor.  After  two  unsuccessful  attempts  to 
obtain  a  Pastor,  the  Yestry,  in  1762,  extended  an  in- 
vitation to  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Punderson  of  New 
Haven,  which  he  accepted;  and  about  the  same  time 
the  Society,  without  any  knowledge  of  this  action, 
appointed  the  Rev.  Mr.  Palmer  of  Litchfield  to  fill  the 
same  post.  Here  was  a  conflict  of  appointments  or 
authorities.  Both  gentlemen  had  their  claims;  but 
Mr.  Punderson  was  the  choice  of  the  Parish,  and  was 
desired  by  the  people  because  he  had  been  the  means 
of  uniting  them,  and  thus  of  healing  the  unhappy 
spirit  of  discord  which  had  prevailed  since  the  death 
of  their  late  Rector.  It  was  an  additional  reason 
why  Mr.  Punderson  should  go  to  Rye,  that  the  Church 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  221 

in  New  Haven  was  declining  nnder  his  ministrations. 
Dr.  Johnson,  who  had  previously  encouraged  the  ap- 
pointment of  Mr.  Palmer,  wrote  to  the  Society  in  De- 
cember, 1762,  thus:  "You  have  herewith  a  letter  from 
the  Church-wardens  and  Vestrymen  of  Rye,  praying 
that  Mr.  Punderson  may  be  appointed  their  Mission- 
ary, which  also  I  earnestly  desire,  as  they  are  (after 
much  contention)  happily  united  in  him,  and  his  re- 
moval from  New  Haven  is  rendered  highly  expedient 
by  an  unhappy  controversy  about  a  house  with  a 
dissenter  of  some  note  there,  by  whom  he  has  been 
very  injuriously  treated,  whereby  his  life  has  been 
most  uncomfortable,  and  the  Church  has  much  suf- 
fered j  but  I  hope  it  may  soon  be  provided  with  some 
other  worthy  incumbent  not  liable  to  the  like  diffi- 
culties. The  clergy  thought  it  advisable,  though  he 
continues  this  winter  at  New  Haven,  that  he  should 
as  frequently  as  might  be  visit  the  people  at  Rye." 

The  matter  was  at  length  adjusted,  not  without 
some  chagrin  and  disappointment  on  the  part  of  Mr. 
Palmer,  by  an  exchange  of  places  between  the  two 
gentlemen,  and  he  was  formally  invited  by  the  Church- 
wardens and  others  in  New  Haven  to  succeed  Mr. 
Punderson;  and  the  Venerable  Society,  rather  than 
erect  a  new  mission  at  Litchfield,  allowed  his  trans- 
fer and  continued  their  appropriation.  In  his  report 
of  June  8th,  1763,  after  mentioning  that  the  people 
had  purchased  a  glebe  near  the  church,  and  were 
completing  a  house  for  his  accommodation,  he  added, 
they  have  "engaged  to  give  me  an  annuity  of  <£30, 
which  is  as  much  as  they  are  at  present  able  to  do, 
being  in  number  but  sixty  famihes,  and  more  than 
half  of  them   in   low  cu'cumstances;  yet,   after  aU, 


222  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

though  New  Haven  is  a  pleasant  situation,  and  would 
be  quite  agreeable  to  me,  I  should,  upon  my  own  ac- 
count, be  content  to  go  to  Rye;  and  if,  all  things  con- 
sidered, the  Society  shall  order  me  there,  I  shall  be 
well  suited.  But  then,  I  should  be  concerned  for  the 
Church  in  New  Haven,  which,  in  the  latter  part  of 
Mr.  Punderson's  time  there,  was  really  in  a  pining 
}  iid  langviishing  state;  and  should  he  return  to  them 
again,  (though  he  obtains  a  good  character,  and  is 
really  a  valuable  man,)  I  fear  he  would  have  the  mor- 
tification of  seeing  it  expire  in  his  hands." 

Some  months  later,  he  wrote  again  from  New  Ha- 
ven, and  referring  to  the  embarrassments  which  had 
grown  out  of  the  action  of  the  people  at  Rye,  he  said, 
"As  matters  now  stand,  and  as  Mr.  Punderson's  return 
would  certainly  prove  fatal  to  this  Church,  w^hich  was 
even  panting  for  breath,  and  just  ready  to  expire 
when  he  left  it,  I  shall  be  well  pleased  with  the  So- 
ciety's approbation  and  consent  to  succeed  him,  though 
Rye  would  have  suited  me  better."  The  exchange 
of  places  between  the  two  gentlemen  proved  bene- 
ficial to  the  interests  of  the  Church.  As  vigor  is 
added  to  the  tree  by  transplanting  it  in  a  new  and 
stronger  soil,  so  years  and  influence  are  sometimes 
added  to  the  life  of  a  clergyman  by  changing  his  as- 
sociations, and  permitting  him  to  breathe  in  a  dif- 
ferent atmosphere.  Mr.  Punderson  was  eminently 
blessed  in  his  ministry  at  Rye;  and  we  leave  Mr. 
Palmer  in  New  Haven,  at  the  close  of  the  year  1763, 
engaged  in  the  zealous  discharge  of  his  pastoral  office, 
and  toiling  successfully  to  bring  back  the  scattered 
members  of  the  Church. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  223 


CHAPTER  XVn. 

CHURCH  IN  NEW  HAVEN;  DEFENCE  OF  THE   SOCIETY  FOR  PROP- 
AGATING THE  GOSPEL;  AND  AN  AMERICAN  EPISCOPATE. 

A.  D.  1763-1764. 

A  CENTURY  ago,  the  river  which  divides  New  Haven 
from  East  Haven  was  crossed  by  an  inconvenient 
ferry.  Mr.  Panderson  found  it  difficult  at  some  sea- 
sons, and  impossible  at  others,  to  pass  over  into  the 
towns  of  Brauford  and  Guilford  for  the  purpose  of 
discharging  the  duties  of  his  office.  This  was  one 
reason  which  led  to  the  ultimate  discontinuance  of 
his  stated  services  in  those  towns;  but  a  stronger  lay 
in  the  desire  of  the  churchmen  in  New  Haven  for  the 
constant  presence  of  their  Missionary.  The  erection 
of  a  "handsome"  house  of  worship,  the  purchase  of 
land  for  a  glebe,  and  the  generous  provision  of  the 
people,  according  to  their  ability,  for  the  support 
of  a  clergyman,  added  to  the  pecuHar  demands  of 
the  place  as  the  seat  of  the  College,  and  the  centre 
of  strong  Congregational  influences,  encouraged  the 
hope  that  New  Haven  might  be  formed  into  a  dis- 
tmct  Mission,  and  permitted  to  enjoy,  what  was  so 
necessary  to  the  prosperity  of  the  Church  there,  unin- 
terrupted ministrations.  It  was  with  this  hope  that 
Mr.  Palmer  removed  from  Litchfield,  and  assumed 
pastoral  responsibilities  in  the  vicinity  of  his  native 
town.     Writing  to  the  Society,  May  6,  1764,  after  his 


224  HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH' 

family  had  become  settled  in  New  Haven,  he  said: 
"The  state  of  this  Church  is  pretty  much  the  same  as 
when  I  last  wrote,  flourishing  and  increasing.  Divers 
straying  members  have  returned  and  steadfastly  ad- 
here to  us,  and  several  respectable  heads  of  families 
have  been  newly  proselyted,  and,  from  the  present 
view  of  things,  there  seems  to  be  a  foundation  of 
hope  for  still  greater  increase.  The  churchpeople 
here  have  been  wanting  in  nothing  that  their  abili- 
ties could  do  for  the  honor  of  their  profession.  They 
are  but  few  in  number,  and  most  of  them  of  but  mod- 
erate fortunes." 

Anxious  to  secure  the  land  which  lay  over  against 
their  house  of  worship,^  and  which  was  designed  in  the 
indenture,  made,  thirty  years  before,  by  William  Greg- 
son,  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  Church  of  England 
in  New  Haven,  Enos  Ailing  purchased  it  of  the  jyarty 
in  possession,  and  obtained  a  "warranty  deed,"  Septem- 
ber 12th,  1765.  Towards  the  end  of  the  succeeding 
month  he  conveyed  it  to  "  Timothy  Bonticou  and  Isaac 
Doolittle,  Church-wardens,  and  Christopher  Kilby  and 
Stephen  Mansfield,  Vestrymen  of  Trinity  Church  in 
New  Haven,  and  the  rest  of  the  members  of  the  said 
Episcopal  church,"  "for  the  consideration  of  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy-one  pounds  five  shillings  lawful 
money,  the  same  consideration  which  had  been  named 
in  the  instrument  of  his  own  purchase."  The  title  of 
the  grantor  ran  back  to  a  great-grandson,  in  the  fe- 
male line,  of  Thomas  Gregson,  the  first  proprietor, 
and  this  descendant  with  his  father  had  been  in  pos- 

1  The  first  Episcopal  ehureli  in  New  Haven  stood  on  the  east  side  of 
Church  Street,  on  ground  now  occupied  by  the  block  of  three  stores  next 
north  of  the  Odeon  building. 


IN    CONNECTICUT.  225 

session  more  than  forty  years,  and  therefore  claimed 
exclusive  ownership. 

Thomas  Gregson  was  one  of  the  original  and  most 
influential  planters  of  the  New  Haven  Colony, — "a 
colony,"  to  quote  the  words  of  Cotton  Mather,  "con- 
stellated with  many  stars  of  the  first  magnitude."  He 
signed  the  fundamental  agreement  formed  in  a  gen- 
eral meeting,  that  church -members  only  should  be 
free  burgesses  and  have  the  power  to  choose  from 
among  themselves  magistrates  and  officers  to  trans- 
act all  public  business.  He  was  an  active  merchant, 
and  held  those  high  trusts  and  responsibilities  in  the 
colony  which  indicated  the  confidence  of  the  planters 
in  his  wisdom  and  integrity.  He  was  the  first  white 
settler  in  East  Haven,  making  his  settlement  at  a 
place  called  "Solitary  Cove."  When  the  colonists 
found  their  commercial  enterprises  threatened  with 
disaster,  and  their  large  estates  fast  melting  away, 
they  attempted  to  retrieve  their  fortunes  by  a  new 
effort;  and  "gathering  together  almost  all  the  strength 
which  was  left  them,  they  built  one  ship  more,  which 
they  freighted  for  England  with  the  best  part  of  their 
tradable  estates;  and  sundry  of  their  eminent  per- 
sons embarked  in  her  for  the  voyage."  In  the  month 
of  January,  1646,  when  the  harbor  was  completely 
frozen  over,  "a  passage  was  cut  through  the  ice  with 
saws,  for  three  miles,"  and  the  "great  ship,"  with 
George  Lamberton  for  the  master,  and  Thomas  Greg- 
son  as  a  commissioner  "to  procure  a  patent  from  the 
Parliament  for  these  parts,"  floated  out  amid  the  pray- 
ers and  benedictions  of  the  people,  assembled  to  wit- 
ness the  departure  of  their  friends.  That  ship,  with 
"the  divers  godly  persons,  men  and  women,"  who  em- 

15 


226  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

barked  in  it,  was  never  heard  of  again.  Month  after 
month  elapsed,  and  finally  a  year,  and  still  no  tidings 
were  received  of  their  ftxte.  Tradition  has  preserved 
"the  apparition  of  a  ship  in  the  air,"  "the  mould"  of 
Lamberton's  vessel,  coming  up  the  mouth  of  the  harbor 
after  a  great  thunder-storm  in  June,  long  subsequent 
to  the  sailing,  first  appearing  with  "her  main-top  blown 
off,  but  left  hanging  in  the  shrouds,"  then  with  "all 
her  masting"  gone,  and  finally  with  the  keel  only, 
which  quickly  "careened"  and  vanished  out  of  sight. 
And  thus  "the  afflicted  spirits"  of  the  colonists  were 
quieted,  because  they  superstitiously  believed  that 
God  had  in  this  way  condescended  to  give  an  "ac- 
count of  His  disposal  of  those  for  whom  so  many  pray- 
ers had  been  offered."  When  all  hope  of  their  re- 
turn had  ceased,  their  estates  were  legally  settled. 
"The  inventory  of  the  estate  of  Mr.  Thomas  Gregson, 
deceased,"  amounting  to  nearly  £500,  "was  delivered 
into  the  court;  and  being  viewed,  was  delivered  to 
the  Secretary  to  be  recorded,"  under  date  of  Decem- 
ber 7th,  1647.  He  left  no  will,  and  his  property,  by 
the  existing  laws,  went  to  his  family.  His  only  son 
Kichard  and  one  of  his  daughters  returned  and  re- 
sided in  England,  but  his  widow  and  the  other  seven 
daughters  lived  and  died  in  this  country.  It  was  in 
the  line  of  descent  from  his  son  that  a  claim  was  set 
up  to  the  land  which  subsequently  came  into  the  pos- 
session of  Trinity  Church. 

By  the  English  law  of  entails,  the  eldest  son  in- 
herited, and  by  the  colonial  enactments  of  New  Ha- 
ven and  Connecticut,  where  a  man  died  without  a 
will,  one  third  part  at  least  of  his  estate  went  to  the 
widow,  if  he  left  a  widow,  and  the  remaining  two 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  227 

thirds  were  divided  among  the  children,  "with  due 
respect  to  ihe  eldest  son"  who  was  to  have  a  child's 
double  portion  of  the  whole  estate,  real  and  personal, 
unless  the  General  Court,  upon  just  cause  and  grounds, 
should  judge  otherwise,  either  for  dividing  the  estate, 
or  for  the  portion  of  the  first-born.  The  final  settle- 
ment and  distribution  of  Thomas  Gregsoij's  estate  did 
not  take  place  until  April  3,  1715;  and  then,  when  the 
son  was  dead,  there  was  set  off,  with  other  property, 
to  "the  heirs  of  Richard,  the  oldest  and  only  son  of 
the  deceased,  1  acre  J  and  24  rods  of  the  Home  lot. 
North  part;"^  and  this  is  the  land  which  was  after- 
wards conveyed  to  Mr.  Arnold. 

Thus,  by  both  the  English  and  colonial  laws,  as 
well  as  by  the  division  of  the  estate,  the  claim  might 
have  been  asserted;  and  to  extinguish  forever  any 
title  of  this  sort,  Mr.  Ailing,  three  years  after  he  had 
deeded  it  to  the  parish,  obtained  from  William  Greg- 
son,  the  same  great-grancJson  of  Thomas  Gregson, 
who  had  once  conveyed  it  in  trust  to  Mr.  Arnold,  a 
release  of  all  his  right,  title,  and  interest  in  the  land, 
and  "for  the  consideration  of  five  shillings  money  re- 
ceived." The  release,  like  the  deed  of  Mr.  Ailing,  was 
made  to  "Timothy  Bonticou,  Isaac  Doolittle,  and  the 
rest  of  the  professors  of  the  Church  of  England  and 
members  of  Trinity  Church  for  the  time  being,  and  to 
their  successors,"  and  it  was  dated  October  26th,  1768; 
but  fourteen  years  elapsed  before  it  was  entered  upon 
tlie  records  in  New  Haven,  and  by  that  time  Sir  Guy 
Carleton,  commander  of  the  British  armies  in  America, 
had  communicated  to  General  Washington  that  nego- 
tiations for  peace  had  been  commenced  in  Paris,  and 

1  New  Haven  Probate  Records,  pp.  397,  398. 


228  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

that  the  independence  of  the  colonies  would  be  con- 
ceded as  a  preliminary  step. 

Bitter  assaults  were  commenced  upon  the  Church 
by  her  adversaries  throughout  New  England  shortly 
before  the  establishment  of  the  second  Missionary  in 
New  Haven.  The  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  was  attacked,  and  the  Mis- 
sionaries, accused  of  gross  misrepresentations.  "The 
invidious  Dr.  Mayliew,"  said  Palmer,  "of  base  princi- 
ples, and  it  is  to  be  feared  a  dishonest  heart,  has 
raised  a  dust  to  blind  men's  eyes,  and  stir  up  a  popu- 
lar clamor.  They  are  very  lil^eral  in  their  satires, 
and  impute  faults  where  there  are  none."  On  this 
account  he  thought  it  would  be  well  "if  the  Society 
had  a  large  number  of  upright,  honest-hearted,  faith- 
ful members  here,"  and  in  one  of  his  letters  recom- 
mended as  worthy  of  this  honor,  both  for  his  "liberal 
education  and  affluent  circumstances,"  Mr.  Enos  Ai- 
ling, at  the  same  time  adding:  "He  is  truly  cathoHc 
in  his  temper,  has  been  the  greatest  benefactor  to 
this  church,  [New  Haven,]  and  would,  I  doubt  not, 
do  all  he  could  for  the  interests  of  the  Society,  and 
the  furtherance  of  their  pious  and  charitable  designs; 
and  as  he  is  childless,  though  a  married  man,  would 
at  least  leave  them  a  legacy."  The  controversy  re- 
specting the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  was 
conducted  principally  by  Mayhew  on  the  one  side, 
and  Apthorp  of  Massachusetts,  Johnson,  and  Beach 
on  the  other.  It  reached  across  the  Atlantic,  and 
was  resumed  in  England,  Archbishop  Seeker  taking 
up  his  pen  and  nobly,  yet  temperately,  vmdicating 
the  Society  from  the  aspersions  of  its  enemies,  and 
from  the  many  injurious  reflections  cast  by  Mayhew 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  229 

in  his  pamplilet  on  the  Church  of  England,  and  on  the 
design  of  appointing  Bishops  in  America.  Dr.  John- 
son, writing  to  the  Archbishop,  September  20,  1764, 
thus  referred  to  his  defence:  "I  was  almost  overjoyed, 
after  our  feeble  efforts,  to  find  one  who,  I  did  not 
doubt,  was  the  ablest  hand  in  the  kingdom,  had  con- 
descended to  undertake  our  mighty  giant,  and,  in  the 
opinion  of  our  people,  had  wholly  disarmed  him :  nor 
had  any  of  the  dissenters,  that  I  can  hear  of,  a  word 
to  say,  except  Mayhew  himself,  who,  upon  its  being 
immediately  reprinted  here,  directly  advertised  an 
answer  preparing,  contrary  to  the  advice  of  liis  best 
friends.  I  had  it  from  a  good  hand,  that  a  man  of 
the  best  sense  among  them  told  him  he  was  com- 
pletely answered,  and  advised  him  by  no  means  to  at- 
tempt a  reply."  ^ 

He  was  possessed  with  the  idea  that  the  Society 
had  been  established  with  the  secret  intent  of  usurp- 
ing authority  over  the  various  Christian  communities 
already  settled  in  America,  and  that  real  Missionary 
work  among  the  heathen  was  not  thought  of  or  re- 
garded. But  he  overlooked  the  ftict  that  the  charter 
had  distinctly  declared  the  design  to  be  to  provide 
"an  orthodox  clergy"  for  the  "loving  subjects"  of  the 
British  Crown  in  the  plantations,  and,  also,  to  make 
"such  other  provision"  as  might  "be  necessary  for  the 
Gospel  m  those  parts."  It  was  clear  that  this  "other 
provision"  meant  a  care  for  the  Indian  tribes,  and  it 
was  clear,  moreover,  that  the  avowed  purpose  of  the 
Church,  and  of  the  Societ}^  through  which  she  acted, 
was  to  proclaim  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen  in  and 
nea^  all  her  colonial  possessions.     The  fulfilment  of 

1  Johnson  MSS. 


230  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

this  purpose  was  the  symbol  engraved  upon  the  offi- 
cial seal  of  the  Society;  its  difficulties  and  require- 
ments had  been  minutely  described  in  the  pages  of 
the  first  Annual  Report,  and  no  suitable  opportunity 
of  furthering  it  had  ever  been  designedly  omitted. 

Because  the  growth  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
throughout  New  England  was  attributed  by  the  Inde- 
pendents or  Congregationalists  to  the  influence  of  the 
Crown,  and  especially  to  the  patronage  of  the  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  the  establishment 
of  every  new  mission  was  viewed  with  fresh  jealousy; 
and  hence  the  founding  of  one  at  Cambridge,  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  Harvard  College,  and  the 
appointment  of  so  able  and  accomplished  a  Missionary 
as  Apthorp,  appears  to  have  been  regarded  by  May- 
hew  as  a  part  of  what  he  called  "a  formal  design  to 
carry  on  a  spiritual  siege  of  our  churches,  with  the 
hope  that  they  will  one  day  submit  to  a  spiritual  sov- 
ereign."^ Nothing  could  be  more  dignified  than  the 
reply  of  Archbishop  Seeker  to  this  charge,  when  he 
said  that  "several  members  of  the  Church  of  England 
send  their  children  to  Harvard  College,  and  such  a 
place  of  worship  as  their  parents  approve  may  be 
reasonably  provided  for  them,  without  any  design  of 
proselyting  others.  There  is,  indeed,  a  college  in 
New  England,  where  students  have  been  forbidden 
to  attend  Episcopal  service,  and  a  young  man  has 
been  fined  for  going  to  hear  his  own  father,  an  Epis- 
copal minister,  preach.  But  in  Harvard  College,  it 
seems,  a  better  spirit  prevails;  and  it  is  more  likely 
to  flourish,  both  for  that  moderation  and  the  new 
church  built  near  it." 

I   Observations  on  the  Charter  and  Conduct  of  the  Society,  &c.,  p.  56. 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  231 

The  college  in  New  England  to  which  the  Arch- 
bishop referred,  was  undoubtedly  Yale,  and  the  young 
man  was  a  son  of  Punderson,  who  might  have  been 
fined  in  obedience  to  a  law  of  the  Institution,  for  ab- 
sence from  the  chapel,  when  the  reason  of  his  absence 
was  unknown  to  the  Faculty.  The  law  which  required, 
at  that  time,  under  such  a  penalty,  all  students  to  at- 
tend public  worship  in  the  College  chapel,  except  Epis- 
copal students  on  communion  Sundays,  was  in  accord- 
ance with  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  of  course  entirely 
indefensible  on  the  principle  of  religious  liberty.^ 

One  great  and  efficient  cause  of  the  rapid  increase 
of  the  Church  lay  in  the  divisions  and  controversies 
of  the  standing  order.  Some  among  them  saw  this, 
and,  for  a  time  at  least,  sharp  and  undisguised  at- 
tacks on  the  doctrines  of  Calvin  were  permitted  by 
their  stoutest  advocates  to  pass  unnoticed.  They 
rather  turned  with  complacency  and  approbation  to 
the  zeal  and  force  with  which  Episcopacy  was  assailed 
in  high  quarters,  and  they  seem  to  have  anticipated 
its  overthrow  when  such  champions  as  Hobart  of 
Fau'field,  Welles  of  Stamford,  and  Mayhew  and  Cliaun- 
cey  of  Boston,  asserted  the  Divine  right  of  Presby- 
terian ordination  and  the  primitive  equality  of  Gos- 
pel ministers.  Mr.  Welles,  in  a  discourse  of  seventy- 
eight  closely  printed  pages,  published  in  1763,  "at  the 
desire  of  the  hearers,  with  some  enlargements,"  said, 
in  his  preface:  "As  it  is  probable  that  few  of  you  are 
possessed  of  any  of  the  books  heretofore  published,  in 
vindication  of  our  ministerial  power,  while  ^-our  Epis- 
copal neighbors,  perhaps,  are  generally  supplied  with 
the  arguments  commonly  offered  on  the  other  side 

1  Appendix  B. 


232  HISTORY   OF    THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

of  the  question,  and  so  are  better  prepared  to  dis- 
course upon  the  subject,  the  same  reasons  which  in- 
duced me  to  preach  upon  it  have  at  length  prevailed 
upon  me  to  consent  to  its  publication." 

The  Independents  were  constantly  frightened  by 
the  apparition  of  the  English  hierarchy.  An  un- 
founded alarm  was  spread  throughout  New  England, 
and  an  apprehension  created,  that  all  the  evils  which 
inhered  to  the  Church  in  the  Old  World  would  b  ■ 
transplanted  to  this,  and  hence  the  appointment  oi' 
Bishops  for  America  was  strenuously  resisted,  and  bit- 
terness added  to  the  controversy  from  a  fear  that  the 
accessories  of  wealth  and  temporal  power  would  attend 
their  arrival.  The  dignified  and  temperate  reply  of 
Archbishop  Seeker  to  Dr.  Mayhew,  published  in  Lon- 
don in  1764,  and  afterwards  reprinted  in  this  country, 
presents  the  whole  argument  in  so  clear  and  concise 
a  view,  that  it  deserves  to  be  quoted  at  length. 

"  The  Church  of  England  is,  in  its  constitution.  Epis- 
copal. It  is,  in  some  of  the  plantations,  confessedly 
the  established  Church;  in  the  rest  are  many  congre- 
gations adhering  to  it;  and  through  the  late  exten- 
sion of  the  British  dominions,  it  is  likely  that  there 
will  be  more.  All  members  of  every  church  are,  ac- 
cording to  the  principles  of  liberty,  entitled  to  every 
part  of  what  they  conceive  to  be  the  benefits  of  it, 
entire  and  complete,  so  far  as  consists  with  the  wel- 
fare of  civil  government.  Yet  the  members  of  our 
Church  in  America  do  not  thus  enjoy  its  benefits, 
having  no  Protestant  Bishop  within  three  thousand 
miles  of  them,  —  a  case  which  never  had  its  j^arallel 
before  in  the  Christian  world.  Therefore  it  is  desired 
that  two  or  more  Bishops  may  be  appointed  for  them, 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  233 

« 

to  reside  where  His  Majesty  shall  think  most  conven- 
ient; that  they  may  have  no  concern  in  the  least  with 
any  persons  who  do  not  profess  themselves  to  be  of  the 
Church  of  England,  but  may  ordain  ministers  for  such 
as  do;  may  confirm  their  children,  when  brought  to 
them  at  a  fit  age  for  that  purpose;  and  take  such 
oversight  of  the  Ej^iscopal  clergy  as  the  Bishop  of 
London's  Commissaries  in  those  parts  have  been  em- 
powered to  take,  and  have  taken  without  offence. 
But  it  is  not  desired  in  the  least  that  they  should  hold 
courts  to  try  matrimonial  or  testamentary  causes;  or 
be  vested  with  any  authority  now  exercised  either 
by  provincial  governors  or  subordinate  magistrates; 
or  infringe  or  diminish  any  privileges  or  lilDerties  en- 
joyed by  any  of  the  Laity,  even  of  our  own  commun- 
ion. This  is  the  real  and  the  only  scheme  that  has 
been  planned  for  Bishops  in  America;  and  whoever 
has  heard  of  any  other,  has  been  misinformed  through 
mistake  or  design."^ 

Dr.  Mayhew  was  so  completely  disarmed  on  read- 
ing this  statement  that  he  confessed  in  his  Rejoinder, 
that,  if  it  were  true,  he  "had  been  misinformed  him- 
self, and  knew  of  others  who  had  been  so  in  common 
with  him ;  and  that,  if  such  a  scheme  as  this  were  car- 
ried into  execution,  and  only  such  consequences  were 
to  follow  as  the  proposer  had  professedly  in  view,  he 
could  not  object  against  it,  except  on  the  same  prin- 
ciple that  he  should  object  against  the  Church  of 
England  in  general."^  He,  however,  considered  him- 
self at  hberty  to  treat  it  as  the  imaginary  scheme  of 
a  private  individual  and  without  authority,  because  it 

1  Answer  to  Dr.  Mayhew's  Observations,  &c.,  p.  59. 
8  Rejoinder,  p.  79. 


234         HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

was  published  anonymously.  His  Rejoinder  contained 
so  much  reproachful  language  and  so  many  misrep- 
resentations that  it  was  very  sensibly  reviewed  by  Mr. 
Apthorp,  which  put  an  end  to  that  particular  contro- 
versy. But  Mayhew,  dying  the  next  year,  left  his 
mantle,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  to  Dr.  Chauncey. 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  235 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

HOSTILITY  TO   THE  CHURCH;  PASSAGE  OF   THE  STAMP-ACT,  AND 
THE  COURSE  OF   THE  CLERGY. 

A.  D.  1764-1766. 

Though  the  public  mind  was  charged  with  a  feehng 
of  intense  hostihty  to  the  Church,  yet  she  still  con- 
tinued to  increase,  especially  in  Connecticut,  and  her 
Missionaries  relaxed  none  of  their  fidehty  and  zeal  in 
the  performance  of  their  duties.  The  want  of  accom- 
modation in  some  places  was  a  hindrance  to  her 
growth,  and  the  enlargement  of  certain  houses  of 
worshijD  was  only  prevented  by  a  lack  of  pecuniary 
ability.  Mr.  Beardsley,  in  the  summer  of  1764,  re- 
ported the  prosperity  of  his  Mission  at  Groton  and 
Norwich,  and  "blessed  God  that  those  who  were 
grounded  in  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  Church, 
appeared  more  and  more  zealous  and  attentive  to  her 
excellent  form  of  worship,"  notwithstanding  the  great 
disorders  among  the  "different  denominations,"  and 
the  "prodigious  flood  of  wild  enthusiasm"  which  had 
lately  broken  out  in  those  parts  from  the  visits  of 
Whitefield.  Mr.  Graves,  at  New  London,  who  had  in- 
curred the  displeasure  of  his  brethren  by  the  course 
he  had  formerly  pursued,  wrote,  a  little  later:  "Four 
new  pews  have  been  built;  they  were  engaged  as 
soon  as  they  were   laid  out,  and   so  would  a  dozen 


236  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

more  have  been."  In  his  next  communication  to  the 
Society,  dated  April  20,  1765,  he  touched  upon  a 
point  which  occasionally  troubled  the  Missionaries, 
and  caused  charges  to  be  preferred  against  them  for 
departing  from  the  Liturgy  when  holding  service  in 
a  private  dwelling  where  not  one  member  of  the 
Church  of  England  was  present  to  make  the  usual  re- 
sponses. "God  forbid,"  said  he,  "that  we  should  vary 
from  the  rubric  when  officiating  in  our  churches; 
but  in  houses  I  humbly  presume  it  might  be  some- 
what winked  at,  in  order  to  wean  the  dissenters  from 
their  prejudices  for  the  present,  in  hopes  of  winning 
them  over  to  our  more  reasonable  service  in  time. 
But  in  this  I  submit  to  the  direction  of  my  superiors, 
which  I  shall  always  observe.  How  acceptable  I  am 
to  the  dissenters  of  all  sorts  appears  from  their  send- 
mg  for  me  in  their  illness,  and  desiring  my  spiritual 
ad\dce  in  the  most  necessitous  times,  which  I  always 
comply  with.  My  prayers,  without  books,  earnestly 
engage  their  attention,  and  gradually  wear  away  their 
prejudices,  when  they  find  w^e  can  pray  without  a 
form,  as  well  as  their  own  formal  teachers."  The 
church  at  Hebron,  under  the  ministry  of  Peters,  was 
by  this  time  finished,  through  the  aid  of  a  legacy 
which  should  have  been  earlier  secured,  and  Mr.  Hub- 
bard had  returned  from  England  and  fixed  himself 
in  his  native  place,  where  he  was  imbedding  himself 
in  the  affections  of  a  grateful  people,  spread  out  into 
other  towns  than  Guilford.  The  long  vacant  post  on 
the  Connecticut  River  was  filled  by  his  friend  and 
companion  on  the  voyage  for  Holy  Orders;  and  Mr. 
Andrews,  the  self-denying  Missionary  at  Wallingford, 
North  Haven,  and  Cheshire,  who  had  statedly  ren- 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  237 

dered  gratuitous  services  to  the  Church  in  Middle- 
town,  was  permitted  henceforth  to  apply  himself  to 
the  duties  of  his  own  flourishing  cure.  In  a  letter  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Society,  dated  July  5,  1766,  Dr. 
Johnson  wrote:  "The  Church  has  of  late  so  much 
increased  at  Branford  (Mr.  Palmer's  native  place), 
that  they  hope  without  the  Society's  assistance  (there 
being  there  some  wealthy  persons)  to  make  it  worth 
his  while,  within  about  a  year,  to  quit  the  Society's 
service  and  move  thither,  and  he  inclines  to  hearken 
to  their  proposal,  and  I  wish  it  may  succeed  to  his 
mind.  In  the  mean  time  he  proposes  to  continue  the 
care  of  New  Haven  another  year,  till  they  have  built 
a  church  at  Branford." 

This  project,  for  some  reason,  was  unsuccessful; 
perhaps  because  Mr.  Palmer,  who  always  appears  to 
have  retained  an  affection  for  the  scene  of  his  earliest 
ministrations,  was  soon  recalled  to  the  Mission  in 
Litchfield  County,  already  made  vacant  by  the  la- 
mented death  of  that  young,  accomplished,  and  labori- 
ous servant  of  Christ,  Thomas  Davies.  He  had  lived 
long  enough  to  see,  in  1765,  a  new  church  erected 
under  his  charge  at  New  Milford,  but  the  next  year 
he  died.  Mr,  Palmer,  who  complained  that  he  could 
not  support  his  large  family  in  the  expensive  town 
of  New  Haven  on  his  salary,  reinoved  to  Litchfield 
in  the  autvmm  of  1766,  and  after  five  years  of  contin- 
uous service  in  that  region,  amid  many  infirmities,  he 
also  was  laid  to  his  rest  in  the  grave. 

Tlu'ough  the  abundant  labors  of  Mr.  Scovill,  the 
churchmen  within  the  limits  of  his  Mission  had  so 
greatly  increased  as  to  warrant  the  formation  of  a 
separate  parish  in  Westbury,  (now  Watertown,)  and 


238         HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

several  individuals  were  active  in  the  movement,  and 
entered  into  an  agreement,  as  early  as  1764,  "to  hold 
public  worship  there  on  those  Sundays  when  there 
was  no  preaching  at  Waterbury."  By  the  month  of 
October  in  the  next  year,  a  church,  thirty-seven  by 
forty-five  feet,  was  so  comfortably  finished  that  the 
people  assembled  in  it  for  the  first  time  to  hear  a 
"dedicatory  discourse"  from  the  Rev.  Samuel  Andrews, 
and  to  worship  Him  who  had  put  it  into  their  hearts 
and  enabled  them  to  build  a  temple  to  the  honor  and 
glory  of  His  holy  name. 

A  parish  was  formed  in  Milford  in  1764,  thirty-one 
families  participating  in  the  formation;  and  by  the 
assistance  of  that  charitable  layman,  Mr.  St.  George 
Talbot,  a  small  wooden  church  was  begun  in  the  spring 
of  the  next  year,  but  it  proceeded  towards  completion 
with  a  singular  degree  of  moderation.  A  period  of 
ten  years  elapsed  before  it  was  even  enclosed  and  made 
fit  for  occupancy;  and  then,  when  the  number  of  Epis- 
copalians in  the  town  had  been  reported  to  be  one 
hundred  and  fifty-three,  it  was  opened  with  religious 
services  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hubbard,  aided  by  the  neigh- 
boring Missionaries  at  Stratford  and  Derby. 

In  Fairfield  County,  it  could  be  said  of  the  Church 
that  the  place  of  her  tent  is  enlarged,  and  the  curtains 
of  her  habitations  are  stretched  forth.  Writing  from 
Stratford,  in  the  autumn  of  1764,  Dr.  Johnson  said: 
"Here  are  now  about  one  hundred  families,  and  one 
hundred  and  forty  actual  communicants ;  it  may  seem, 
perhaps,  to  the  Society  and  others,  difficult  to  account 
for  it,  that  there  are  no  more,  here  and  in  many  other 
places,  especially  on  the  sea-coasts,  after  so  many  ac- 
f*ounts,  as  have  been  given  from  time  to  time,  of  the 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  239 

increase  of  our  numbers."  And  then  he  went  on  to 
assign  as  a  reason,  "  that,  besides  many  deaths,  there 
are  in  these  countries  very  frequent  migrations,  espe- 
cially from  the  sea-coasts  to  the  inland  parts,  where 
land  is  much  cheaper,  and  where  many  of  our  people, 
particularly  the  youth,  have  from  time  to  time  re- 
moved. In  Stratford,  for  instance,  had  all  that  con- 
formed to  the  Church,  with  their  descendants,  con- 
tinued here  hitherto,  instead  of  one  hundred,  I  believe 
there  would  be  two  hundred  families."  The  parish- 
ioners of  Mr.  Beach  at  Newtown  frequently  assembled 
to  the  number  of  four  or  five  hundred,  and  he  was 
most  careful  to  fortify  them  as  well  by  his  printed  as 
his  preached  discourses  against  both  Antinomianism 
and  enthusiasm. 

But  a  storm  was  gathering  now  which  was  to  burst 
in  terrible  fury  upon  the  Church  and  arrest  all  this 
prosperity.  It  has  been  mentioned  in  a  former  chap- 
ter that  one  of  the  reasons  urged  with  the  British 
ministry  to  prevent  the  estabhshment  of  an  American 
Episcopate  was  the  fear  that  it  would  lead  to  the  in- 
dependence of  the  colonies.  The  Missionaries  utterly 
repudiated  any  such  tendency,  and  insisted  that  the 
commercial  interests  of  the  home  Government,  to- 
wards which  she  always  turned  a  jealous  eye,  could 
not  and  ought  not  to  be  in  the  least  affected  by  this 
ecclesiastical  provision.  The  first  step  which  led  to 
the  independence  of  the  colonies  was  the  passage  by 
Parliament,  March  22, 1765,  of  the  Stamp- Act,  and  the 
introduction  of  a  Bill  soon  after,  authorizing  the  quar- 
tering of  troops  in  these  parts.  Opposition  was  at  once 
raised  to  the  Stamp-Act,  as  unjust  in  itself.  A  Gen- 
eral Congress  of  the  colonies  met  for  the  first  time 


240  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

at  New  York,  and  the  son  of  Dr.  Johnson  was  chosen 
by  the  Assembly  one  of  the  number  to  represent  Con- 
necticut m  that  Congress.  In  order  to  procure  a 
repeal  of  the  Act,  they  adopted  a  declaration  of  rights 
and  grievances,  asserting  taxation  by  themselves  and 
trial  by  jury  to  be  the  inherent  privilege  of  the  sub- 
jects of  the  British  realm,  in  all  her  dependencies. 
The  Colonial  Assemblies  adopted  similar  measures; 
and  popular  gatherings  throughout  the  land,  heated 
essays  in  the  newspapers,  and  more  elaborate,  but  not 
less  inflammatory  pamphlets,  served  to  set  the  whole 
country  in  a  blaze.  In  some  places  the  stamp-officers 
and  their  supporters  Avere  exposed  to  personal  vio- 
lence ;  and  on  the  first  of  November,  the  day  designated 
for  the  Act  to  go  into  operation,  neither  stamps  nor 
officers  were  to  be  found  in  the  colonies,  and  business 
of  aU  kinds  was  therefore  transacted  without  the  aid 
of  stamped  paper. 

But  what  was  the  course  of  the  poor,  persecuted 
Church  of  England  here  amid  these  popular  discon- 
tents and  tumults?  Always  teaching  her  children  to 
"honor  and  obey  the  civil  authority,"  she  was  loyal 
then,  as  now,  to  the  rightly  constituted  government, 
and  seven  of  her  Missionaries  in  Connecticut,  acci- 
dentally convened  in  September  of  this  same  year, 
sent  an  address  to  the  Venerable  Society,  to  the  ef- 
fect, that,  "although  the  commotions  and  disaffec- 
tion in  this  country  were  very  great  relative  to  what 
was  called  the  imposition  of  the  Stamp-Act,"  yet  they 
had  the  satisfaction  of  stating  that  the  people  of  the 
Church  of  England  in  general  in  this  colony,  as  they 
were  able  to  assure  the  Society,  and  those  particu- 
larly under  their  own  respective  charges,  were  of  "a 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  241 

contrary  temper  and  conduct,  esteeming  it  nothing 
short  of  rebellion  to  speak  evil  of  dignities  and  to 
avow  opposition  to  this  last  act  of  Parliament." 

Dr.  Leaming,  not  among  these  subscribers,  but  writ- 
ing from  Norwalk  in  the  same  month,  said:  "I  have 
the  satisfaction  to  assure  the  Society,  that  Missionaries 
being  placed  in  this  colony,  is  not  only  very  service- 
able in  a  religious,  but  in  a  civil  sense.  In  the  north- 
east part  of  this  colony  there  have  been  most  rebelli- 
ous outrages  committed,  on  account  of  the  Stamp-Act, 
while  those  towns  where  the  Church  has  o-ot  footino* 
have  calmly  submitted  to  the  civil  authority.  This 
has  been  remarked,  and  by  the  dissenters  themselves, 
to  the  honor  of  the  Church.  It  is  said  that  Mayhew, 
the  day  before  the  mob  pulled  down  the  Deputy-Gov- 
ernor's house,  preached  sedition  from  these  words:  I 
would  ihef/  tvere  even  cut  off  that  trouble  you.  He  has 
abused  the  Church  with  impunity,  and  perhaps  he 
thinks  he  may  escape  in  abusing  the  State  also."  Mr. 
Beach,  a  day  or  two  after,  followed  this  letter  of  Dr. 
Leaming  with  another,  describing  the  feeling  in  his 
own  charge: — "I  have,  of  late,  taken  pains  to  warn 
my  people  against  having  any  concern  in  the  sedi- 
tious tumults  with  relation  to  the  Stamp-duty,  enjoined 
upon  us  by  the  Legislature  at  home;  and  I  can  with 
truth  and  pleasure  say,  that  I  cannot  discover  the 
least  inclination  towards  rebellious  conduct  in  any  of 
the  churchpeople  here,  who  remember,  with  the  sin- 
cerest  gratitude,  the  favors  we  have  received  from  the 
mother-country,  and  we  esteem  ourselves  under  the 
strongest  obligations  of  all  dutiful  obedience  to  the 
Government  at  home.  I  wish  I  could  say  the  same 
of  all  sects  in  these  parts." 

16 


242         HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

The  patient  and  worthy  Mr.  Lamson,  at  Fairfield, 
penning  his  communication  six  months  later,  said: 
"In  a  time  of  anarchy  and  disloyalty  in  this  country, 
the  professors  of  the  Church  of  England  have  in  gen- 
eral, throughout  the  Province  of  New  England,  distin- 
guished themselves  by  a  peaceable  submission  and 
quiet  deportment.  The  Missionaries  have  exerted 
themselves  upon  the  occasion  in  exhorting  their  own 
congregations  and  others  to  peace,  and  a  due  sub- 
mission to  authority;  by  which  means  we  have  been 
exposed  to  the  calumny  and  insult  of  the  enemies  of 
the  Church  and  State.  Some  of  us  have  been  threat- 
ened with  having  our  houses  pulled  down  over  our 
heads,  though  as  yet  they  have  kept  themselves,  in 
this  part  of  the  country,  from  acts  of  open  violence. 
I  pray  God  to  send  us  better  times." 

These  extracts  are  selected  to  show  that  the  Mis- 
sionaries sought  to  guide  their  flocks  to  peace  and 
quietness  in  the  midst  of  the  popular  tumults.  Nor 
did  they  stop  with  this,  for  while  they  were  thus 
teaching,  they  were  using  their  influence  with  their 
friends  in  England  to  procure  a  relaxation  of  the 
obnoxious  policy  of  the  home  Government.  When 
Franklin  was  about  to  cross  the  ocean  as  a  special 
agent  for  Pennsylvania,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Johnson  wrote 
to  him  and  said:  "Would  to  God  you  were  charged 
with  pleading  the  same  cause  in  behalf  of  all  the  gov- 
ernments, that  they  might  all  alike  be  taken  into  the 
King's  more  immediate  protection."  The  wish  was 
so  far  realized  that  Franklin  soon  became  actively  and 
conspicuously  interested  in  the  affairs  of  all  the  col- 
onies, and  took  every  step  in  his  power,  first  to  pre- 
vent the  passage  of  the  Stamp-Act,  and  then  to  pro- 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  243 

cure  its  repeal.  Dr.  Johnson  was  so  impressed  with 
the  supreme  importance  of  the  American  Episcopate, 
that  on  the  very  day  when  the  Connecticut  clergy, 
at  their  accidental  meeting,  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
Venerable  Society,  he  wrote  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  and,  referring  to  the  course  of  the  oppo- 
nents of  his  cherished  scheme,  added:  "These  people 
will  stick  at  nothing  to  gain  their  point.  It  seems 
they  make  gentlemen  believe  that  nineteen  twen- 
tieths of  America  are  wholly  against  it  themselves,  and 
that  it  would  make  a  more  dangerous  clamor  and  dis- 
content than  the  Stamp- Act  itself,  than' which  nothing 
can  be  more  false.  Had  it  been  done  last  spring, 
(when  the  dissenters  themselves  expected  nothing 
else,)  and  the  Stamp- Act  postponed  till  the  next,  it 
would  have  been  but  a  nine  days'  wonder,  nor  do  I 
believe  one  half  of  the  people  of  America  would  have 
been  much,  if  at  all,  uneasy  at  it;  and  now  a  million 
of  souls  are  really  suffering  for  want  of  it." 

The  gifted  and  scholarly  Dr.  Chandler,^  of  Elizabeth- 
town,  writing  more  largely  to  the  Society,  under  date 
of  January  15th,  1766,  among  other  things,  said:  "Such 
an  universal  spirit  of  clamor  and  discontent,  little  short 
of  madness,  and  such  an  opinion  of  oppression,  prevails 
throughout  the  colonies,  as  I  believe  was  scarcely  ever 
seen  on  any  occasion  in  any  country  on  earth.  And 
it  seems  to  be  the  determined,  inflexible  resolution  of 
most  people,  from  Halifax  to  Georgia,  at  all  hazards, 
even  of  death  and  destruction,  never  to  submit  to 
what  they  esteem  so  great  an  infringement  of  their 
essential  rights,  as  some  of  the  late  acts  of  the  British 
Parliament. 

1  He  was  honored  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  by  the  Uni- 
versity of  Oxford  in  1766. 


244  HISTORY   OF   THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

"Every  friend,  therefore,  to  the  happiness  of  the  col- 
onies, or  even  of  Great  Britain,  who  is  acquainted  with 
the  case  as  it  really  is,  must  wish  that  the  Parliament 
would  relax  of  its  severity ;  which  yet,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, will  be  no  easy  thing  after  such  provocations 
as  have  been  latel}^  offered  on  the  part  of  the  colonies. 
But  good  policy,  I  humbly  apprehend,  will  rather  put 
up  with  almost  anything  than  drive  matters  to  a  dan- 
gerous extremity.  Most  probably  the  Parliament  is 
able  (although  most  people  here  pretend  not  to  be- 
lieve that  they  are)  to  enforce  the  Stamp-Act;  yet 
should  they  resolve  to  do  it,  a  disaffection  of  the  col- 
onies, of  which  there  have  been  no  visible  symptoms 
before,  will  be  undoubtedly  established;  the  Govern- 
ment must  be  put  to  a  great  expense,  and  the  com- 
merce of  the  colonies,  so  beneficial  to  England  here- 
tofore, will  sink  comparatively  to  a  mere  trifle.  For 
none  will  dare  import  anything  but  the  bare  neces- 
saries of  life,  and,  upon  the  examination  that  has  been 
made,  it  is  found  that  almost  every  real  want  can  be 
supplied  from  ourselves. 

"England  has  always  l3een  benefited  nearly  in  pro- 
portion to  the  wealth  and  commerce  of  her  colonies. 
Whether  therefore  any  measures  that  directly  tend  to 
lessen  that  wealth  and  commerce  can  finally  be  of 
service  to  Great  Britain,  is  a  question  which  may  not 
be  unworthy  the  attention  even  of  those  who  are  the 
guardians  of  her  interests.  The  Parliament  has  un- 
doubtedly been  misinformed.  For  that  the  colonies 
in  general  abound  in  wealth,  and  are  able  to  pay  any 
considerable  tax  to  the  government  after  providing 
for  their  own  necessary  expenses,  is  just  as  true,  in 
my  opinion,  (and  indeed  we  understand  is  founded  on 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  245 

the  same  testimony,)  as  that  an  American  Episcopate 
ivoidd  he  iiUerly  disagreeable  to  more  than  nineteen  twentieths 
of  all  the  'people  in  America." 

A  little  farther  on  in  the  same  letter,  the  statement 
is  made,  '-If  the  interests  of  the  Church  of  England 
in  America  had  been  made  a  national  concern,  accord- 
ing to  the  policy  of  all  other  nations  that  have  had 
colonies,  by  this  time  a  general  submission  to  the  par- 
ent country  in  everything  not  sinful,  after  no  other 
efforts  than  dutiful  remonstrances,  might  have  been 
expected,  not  only  for  wrath,  but  for  conscience'  sake. 
And  who  can  be  certain  that  the  present  rebellious 
disposition  of  the  colonies  is  not  intended  by  Provi- 
dence as  a  punishment  for  that  neglect? 

"Indeed,  many  wise  and  good  persons  at  home  have 
had  the  cause  of  religion  and  the  Church  here  sin- 
cerely at  heart;  and  the  nation,  whether  sensible  of 
it  or  not,  is  under  obligations  to  that  very  worthy 
Society  who,  by  their  indefatigable  endeavor  to  prop- 
agate the  Gospel  and  assist  the  Church,  have  at  the 
same  time  and  thereby  secured  to  the  State,  as  far  as 
their  influence  could  be  extended,  the  Loyalty  and 
Fidelity  of  her  American  children." 

In  communicating  a  copy  of  this  extract  to  the  ven- 
erable Dr.  Johnson,  whom  he  affectionately  regarded 
as  a  father,  and  whose  wise  and  prudent  counsels  he 
constantly  sought,  the  author  appended  the  words, 
"Here  are  Politics!  Here  is  Patriotism!  But  how 
far  I  shall  be  thanked  for  either,  I  cannot  foresee. 
But  it  was  next  to  impossible,  when  I  was  writing,  to 
avoid  saying  something  on  the  subject,  and  I  said  the 
above  in  the  anguish  and  simplicity  of  my  heart."  ^ 

1  Johnson  MSS. 


246  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

The  Stamp-Act  was  repealed  by  Parliament,  to  the 
honor  of  the  Rockingham  ministry  and  the  great  joy 
of  the  colonies,  just  one  year  after  its  passage,  and  the 
voices  of  such  men  as  William  Pitt  and  Edmund  Burke 
were  nobly  lifted  up  in  defence  of  the  healing  measure. 
But,  as  if  fearful  of  conceding  too  much,  the  repeal 
was  accompanied  by  a  Declaratory  Act,  in  which  it 
was  affirmed  that  "Parliament  had  a  right  to  bind  the 
colonies  in  all  cases  whatsoever;"  an  act  said  to  have 
been  prompted  by  the  indiscreet  warmth  of  Pitt,  but 
which  Lord  Mansfield,  who  was  against  the  repeal, 
pronounced  in  the  House  of  Lords  to  amount  to 
nothing,  and  that  it  was  a  poor  contrivance  to  save 
the  dignity  of  Parliament.  But  whatever  may  have 
been  its  origin  or  design,  the  declaration  was  looked 
upon  by  the  colonists  as  a  sober  reality,  and  it  never 
ceased  to  rankle  in  their  breasts.  The  whole  and 
remoter  effect  of  it  has  been  so  well  and  concisely 
described  by  New  England's  greatest  statesman,  that 
no  apology  need  be  offered  for  introducing  his  words 
in  this  connection: — 

"The  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  asserted  a  right 
to  tax  the  colonies  in  all  cases  whatsoever;  and  it 
was  precisely  on  this  question  that  they  made  the 
Revolution  turn.  The  amount  of  taxation  was  trifling, 
but  the  claim  itself  was  inconsistent  with  liberty;  and 
that  was,  in  their  eyes,  enough.  It  was  against  the 
recital  of  an  act  of  Parliament,  rather  than  against 
any  suffering  under  its  enactments,  that  they  took  up 
arms.  They  went  to  war  against  a  preamble.  They 
fought  seven  years  against  a  declaration.  They  poured 
out  their  treasures  and  their  blood  like  water,  in  a 
contest  against  an  assertion,  which  those  less  sagSr 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  247 

cious  and  not  so  well  schooled  in  the  principles  of 
civil  liberty  would  have  regarded  as  barren  phraseol- 
ogy, or  mere  parade  of  words.  They  saw  in  the  claim  of 
the  British  Parliament  a  seminal  principle  of  mischief, 
the  germ  of  unjust  power;  they  detected  it,  dragged 
it  forth  from  underneath  its  plausible  disguises,  struck 
at  it;  nor  did  it  elude  either  their  steady  eye  or  their 
well-directed  blow  till  they  had  extirpated  and  de- 
stroyed it,  to  the  smallest  fibre.  On  this  question  of 
principle,  while  actual  suffering  was  yet  afar  off,  they 
raised  their  flag  against  a  power  to  which,  for  pur- 
poses of  foreign  conquest  and  subjugation,  Rome,  in 
the  height  of  her  glory,  is  not  to  be  compared :  a  power 
which  has  dotted  over  the  surface  of  the  whole  globe 
with  her  possessions  and  military  posts;  whose  morn- 
ing drum-beat,  following  the  sun,  and  keeping  com- 
pany with  the  hours,  circles  the  earth  with  one  con- 
tinuous and  unbroken  strain  of  the  martial  airs  of 
England."! 

Such  is  the  eloquent  description  of  the  memorable 
struggle  which  involved  at  once  so  many  precious 
hopes  and  interests  for  the  mother-country  and  her 
American  possessions.  At  this  point  of  time  there 
are  trials  and  disasters  preparing  for  the  Church  in 
Connecticut,  greater  and  sadder  than  any  she  has  yet 
experienced.  The  course  which  her  Missionaries  pur- 
sued in  reference  to  the  immediate  causes  that  led  to 
the  Revolution,  and  ultimately  to  the  Independence 
of  the  colonies,  did  not  save  them  and  their  flocks 
from  the  bitterness  of  future  persecution.  But  we 
will  not  anticipate  the  events  of  history.  We  believe 
that,  without  foreseeing  the  violence  of  the  storm, 

1  Webster's  Works,  Vol.  IV.  pp.  109,  110. 


248  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

God  strengthened  them  for  its  approach,  by  keeping 
them  to  their  proper  work.  The  faithful  Beach  at 
Newtown,  not  without  fear  of  personal  abuse  from 
the  lawless,  "for  no  other  reason  than  that  of  endeav- 
oring to  cherish  in  his  people  a  quiet  submission  to 
the  civil  government,"  and  who  implored  the  Venera- 
ble Society  in  their  wisdom  to  direct  him  how  he 
ouo-ht  to   conduct  himself  "in  this  new  and  melan- 

o 

choly  affair,"  was  not  unmindful  of  his  duty  as  t. 
preacher  of  the  everlasting  Gospel  and  a  "watchmau 
on  the  walls."  He  would  not  be  drawn  aside  from 
the  old  path  which  he  had  so  long  and  so  well  trod- 
den. For  we  find  him,  in  the  midst  of  his  daily  pas- 
toral toil,  standing  forward  before  the  public  as  the 
firm  and  triumphant  opponent  of  the  many  religious 
extravagances  Avhich  then  prevailed  in  various  parts 
of  New  England.  "Though  my  health,"  said  he,  in  a 
letter  written  just  after  the  passage  of  the  Stamp-Act, 
but  before  the  news  of  it  had  reached  or  been  spread 
in  this  country,  "is  small,  and  m}^  abilities  less;  and 
though  I  make  it  a  rule  never  to  enter  into  any  dis- 
pute with  them  (the  Independent  ministers)  unless 
they  begin,  yet  now  they  have  made  the  assault,  and 
advanced  such  monstrous  errors  as  do  subvert  the 
Gospel,  I  think  myself  obliged  by  my  ordination  vow 
to  guard  my  people  (as  well  as  I  can)  against  such 
doctrines,  in  which  work,  hitherto,  I  hope  I  have  had 
some  success."  Other  Missionaries  were  alike  vigi- 
lant, though  not  so  widely  known  nor  possessed  of 
so  much  official  and  personal  influence.  Born  and 
educated  in  the  colony,  as  they  all  had  been,  with 
one  exception,  they  expected  to  share  its  fortunes; 
and  in  the  full  persuasion  that  the  Church  of  Eng- 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  249 

land  was  modelled  after  the  Apostolic  order,  and 
tauglit  and  preserved  the  truth,  they  could  not  and 
they  would  not  consent  to  have  her  doctrines  pub- 
licly misrepresented  and  her  rights  infringed  without 
sending  forth  in  all  places  a  voice  of  solemn  remon- 
strance. Their  good  and  Christian  lives  caused  them 
to  be  respected,  even  when  they  stoutly  refused  to 
sacrifice  any  of  their  principles  to  gain  the  popular 
favor.  If  they  complained  occasionally  of  the  sedi- 
tious tumults  and  lawlessness  of  the  people  here,  they 
complained  much  more  of  the  policy  of  the  home  Gov- 
ernment, and  of  "  the  spirit  of  indifference  to  the  real 
character  and  duties  of  the  Church,  so  unhappily 
manifested  by  some  of  the  leading  Statesmen  of  that 
day."i 

1  Anderson's  Colonial  Church,  Vol.  III.  p.  436. 


250        HISTORY  OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

APPEAL  OF  THE  CLERGY  OF  CONNECTICUT  FOR  A  BISHOP;  DR. 
CHANDLER'S  PUBLICATIONS,  AND  THE  REPLIES  OF  HIS  AN- 
TAGONISTS. 

A.    D.   1766. 

On  the  8th  day  of  October,  1766,  a  Convention  of 
the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  in  the  Colony 
of  Connecticut  was  held  at  Stratford,  where  twelve  of 
their  number,  including  Dr.  Auchmuty  of  New  York, 
were  present.  At  this  meeting,  a  formal  address 
to  the  Bishop  of  London  was  prepared  and  signed 
by  them,  in  which  they  "bitterly  lamented  the  de- 
plorable condition"  of  the  home  Government,  because 
for  political  reasons  it  refused  a  Protestant  Bishop  to 
the  colonies,  but  allowed  the  Romanists  in  Canada 
and  the  Moravians  elsewhere  to  have  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  their  ecclesiastical  privileges  and  discipline. 
It  was  quite  beyond  the  conception  of  these  signers 
that  such  partiality  should  be  shown,  especially  as  the 
Crown  might  well  be  supposed  to  favor  the  interests 
of  a  communion  which  were  so  closely  blended  with 
its  own  prosperity.  "The  more  the  Church  spreads  in 
this  country,"  wrote  Mr.  Beach  from  Newtown,  in  the 
spring  of  1767,  "the  more  we  feel  and  groan  under 
the  want  of  a  Bishop.  And  I  am  full  in  the  opinion, 
that,  if  those  great  men,  upon  whose  pleasure  it  de- 
pends to  grant  us  such  a  blessing,  did  but  know  as 
sensibly  as  we   do   that  the   churchpeople  here  are 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  251 

the  only  fast  friends  to  our  subjection  to,  or  connec- 
tion with  England,  as  hath  lately  appeared,  they  would, 
even  upon  political  reasons,  grant  us  the  favor  which 
we  have  so  long  wished  and  prayed  for;  and  would 
strengthen  that  cause  which,  compared  with  the  dis- 
senters of  all  denominations,  is  very  weak.  It  is  some 
satisfaction  to  me  to  observe,  that  in  this  town,  of 
late,  in  our  elections,  the  churchpeople  make  the 
major  vote,  which  is  the  first  instance  of  that  kind  in 
this  colony,  if  not  in  all  New  England." 

But  a  timid  regard  to  the  objections  of  the  dis- 
senters, and  of  those  colonies  at  the  South  which  were 
not  heartily  desirous  of  Bisho]3S,  prevailed  above  every 
other  consideration,  and  even  affected  the  action  of 
good  and  prayerful  men.  In  consequence  of  the 
clamors  which  arose  from  the  passage  of  the  Stamp- 
Act,  the  Venerable  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  declined  to  establish  any  more  missions  in 
New  England,  a  step  which  filled  the  clergy  of  the 
Church  with  real  grief  and  concern.  "God  have 
mercy  upon  us,"  wrote  Dibblee  to  the  Secretary  about 
this  time,  "if  the  Provinces  here  should  throw  off  their 
connection,  dependence,  and  subjection  to  the  mother- 
country,  for  how  much  soever  they  are  divided  m  relig- 
ious sentiment  among  themselves,  they  yet  can  unite 
heart  and  hand  to  oppose  and  check,  if  possible,  the 
growth  and  progress  of  our  holy  Church,  which,  like 
rising  Christianity,  springs  up  and  flourishes  out  of 
their  religious  confusions."  "I  wish  it  were  in  my 
power,"  said  Leaming,  seven  months  later,  "to  paint 
in  lively  colors  the  necessity  there  is,  both  in  a  civil 
and  religious  view,  of  our  superiors  giving  attention 
to  the  affairs  of  the  Church  of  England  in  America. 


252  HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

If  the  Church  is  neglected  at  this  juncture,  America 
is  totally  ruined ;  and  those  of  us  who  have  been  faith- 
ful to  give  notice  of  the  true  state  of  affairs  will  be 
the  first  victims  that  will  fall  in  the  sad  catastrophe." 

The  effort  to  secure  the  appointment  of  Bishops  for 
the  American  colonies,  which  had  been  renewed  from 
time  to  time  with  more  or  less  spirit  since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  century,^  was  now  made  in  a  somewhat 
different  shape.  Private  appeals  had  proved  unavail- 
ing. The  frequent  and  earnest  letters  of  the  Mis- 
sionaries to  their  friends  and  patrons  in  England  had 
only  brought  back  the  same  evidence  of  "hope  de- 
ferred which  maketh  the  heart  sick."  "It  appears  to 
us,"  said  Chandler,  writing  to  Dr.  Johnson  on  this  sub- 
ject, "that  Bishops  will  never  be  sent  us  until  we  are 
united  and  w^arm  in  our  applications  from  this  coun- 
try, and  we  can  see  no  reasons  to  expect  a  more  fa- 
vorable tuTie  by  waiting."  As  far  back  as  1754,  Seeker, 
then  Bishop  of  Oxford,  wrote  to  the  Missionary  at 
Stratford  in  this  despondent  tone:  "We  have  done  all 
we  can  here  in  vain,  and  must  wait  for  more  favorable 

1  The  Rev.  John  Talbot,  the  associate  of  Mr.  Keith  in  his  missionary  trav- 
els, and  afterwards  stationed  at  Burlington,  N.  J.,  visited  England  in  1720. 
While  there,  he,  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Welton,  was  consecrated  to  the  Epis- 
copal office  by  the  non-juring  Bishops,  and  returned  to  Burlington.  Wel- 
ton came  to  Philadelphia,  having  been  invited  to  Christ  Church  in  that 
city.  "  Such  a  step,"  says  Hawkins,  "  admits  of  no  justification,  but  we  may 
well  suppose  that  he  [Talbot]  was  led  to  take  it  by  no  personal  ambition, 
but  by  that  strong  and  earnest  conviction  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  an 
Episcopate  for  the  welfare  of  the  Church  in  America,  of  which  his  letters 
afford  such  abundant  testimony.  It  appears  that  he  occasionally  assumed 
the  Episcopal  dress,  and  that  he  administered  the  ordinance  of  Confirma- 
tion. Whatever  confusion  or  schism  might  have  arisen  by  the  irregular 
exercise  of  the  Episcopal  office  was  prevented  by  an  order  from  the  Privy 
Council  for  Welton's  return  to  England,  and  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Talbot, 
which  occurred  in  1727." 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  253 

times;  which  I  think  it  will  contribute  not  a  little  to 
bring  on,  if  the  ministers  of  our  Church  in  America, 
by  friendly  converse  with  the  principal  dissenters, 
can  satisfy  them  that  nothing  more  is  intended  or  de- 
sired than  that  our  Church  may  enjoy  the  fall  benefit 
of  its  own  institutions,  as  all  theirs  do.  For  so  long 
as  they  are  uneasy  and  remonstrate,  regard  will  be 
paid  to  them  and  their  friends  here  by  our  ministers 
of  state.  And  yet  it  will  be  a  hard  matter  for  you  to 
prevent  their  being  uneasy,  while  they  find  you  gain- 
ing groimd  upon  them."  But  when  a  decade  of  years 
had  passed  away,  the  "more  favorable  times"  were  still 
in  the  future. 

Conventional  addresses  of  the  clergy  to  the  King, 
the  Archbishops,  and  other  dignitaries  of  the  Church 
of  England,  were  as  unsuccessful  as  the  private  letters. 
The  ministry  had  never  refused  to  acknowledge  the 
reasonableness  and  propriety  of  establishing  an  Amer- 
ican Episcopate,  but  still  no  decisive  steps  were  taken 
in  that  direction.  "The  Parliament  is  rising,  and 
nothing  will  be  done  this  session,  if  ever,"  wrote  Dr. 
Burton  to  Chandler,  under  date  of  May  26th,  1766; 
and  the  latter,  in  communicating  this  statement  to  Dr. 
Johnson  some  time  afterwards,  made  these  sensible 
comments:  "I  do  not  know  that  we  ever  desired  them 
to  do  anything.  What  reason  can  there  be  for  con- 
sulting the  Parliament?  How,  in  the  name  of  good- 
ness, does  it  concern  them  whether  an  astronomer  or 
a  poet  should  come  over  to  America;  for  he  is  to  re- 
ceive no  powers  or  perquisites  from  them.  If  they 
are  disposed  to  countenance  or  declare  in  a  public 
manner  their  approbation  of  American  Bishops,  we 
are  so  far  obliged  to  them;  but  if  not,  all  that  we  de- 


254  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

sii'e  is,  that  they  will  not  oppose  us,  and  we  will  jDrom- 
ise  never  to  molest  them." 

Dr.  Johnson,  in  a  letter  to  the  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, written  in  the  same  month,  said:  "I  have  the 
great  mortification  and  grief  to  inform  your  Grace, 
that  those  two  hopeful  young  gentlemen  who  were 
ordained  last^  had  the  misfortune  to  be  lost  on  their 
arrival  on  the  coast,  the  ship  being  dashed  to  pieces, 
and  only  four  lives  saved  out  of  twenty-eight.  These 
two  make  up  ten  valuable  lives  that  have  now  been 
lost,  for  want  of  ordaining  powers  here,  out  of  fifty- 
one,  (nigh  one  in  five,)  that  have  gone  for  Orders 
from  hence,  within  the  compass  of  my  knowledge,  in 
little  more  than  forty  years,  which  is  a  much  greater 
loss  to  the  Church  here,  in  proportion,  than  she  suf- 
fered in  the  time  of  Popish  persecution  in  England. 
I  say  this  because  I  can  consider  the  Church  here, 
for  want  of  Bishops,  in  no  other  light  than  as  being 
really  in  a  state  of  persecution  on  this  account.  Pray, 
my  Lord,  will  our  dear  mother-country  have  no  bowels 
of  compassion  for  her  poor  depressed,  destitute  chil- 
dren of  the  established  Church,  (probably  a  million 
of  them,)  dispersed  into  these  remote  regions?  How 
long,  0  Lord,  holy  and  true !  ....  If  such  a  thing  as 
sending  one  or  two  Bishops  can  at  all  be  done  for  us, 
this  article  of  time,  now  that  all  America  are  overflow- 
ing with  joy  for  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp-Act,  would 
be  the  happiest  juncture  for  it  that  could  be,  for  I 
believe  they  would  rather  twenty  Bishops  were  sent 
than  that  Act  enforced." 

It  was  in  this  letter  that  the  wa-iter  referred  to  a 
Synod  of  sixty  Presbyterians  assembled  at  New  York, 

1  Mr.  Giles  of  New  York,  and  Mr.  Wilson  of  Philadelphia. 


IN    CONNECTICUT.  255 

■with  the  design  of  applying,  through  the  General  As- 
sembly of  Scotland,  to  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain 
for  a  charter;  and  the  rejection  of  their  application, 
which  they  charged  to  "prelatical  influence,"  was  said 
to  have  stung  them  with  disappointment,  and  to  have 
caused  their  future  assaults  upon  the  Church  to  be 
more  acrimonious.  The  Synod  made  an  overture  to 
the  General  Associations  of  the  ministers  in  the  Col- 
ony of  Connecticut  to  unite  with  them,  and  the  first 
convention  of  Delegates  to  form  a  plan  of  union  was 
held  at  Elizabethtown,  November  5th,  1766. 

A  letter,  prepared  and  approved  at  this  meeting, 
was  addressed  to  the  "Brethren  of  the  Massachusetts, 
New  Hampshire,  and  Rhode  Island  governments,  and 
the  Dutch  churches,"  showing  how  greatly  the  Dele- 
gates "desired  that  the  union  should  extend  through 
all  the  colonies,"  and  inviting  them  to  join  in  pro- 
moting "the  important  design"  of  their  General  Con- 
vention. 

At  the  annual  Commencement  of  the  College  in 
New  Haven,  the  next  year,  there  Avas  a  Convention 
of  the  Episcopal  clergy;  and  Dr.  Johnson,  in  mention- 
ing it  to  his  Grace,  said:  "There  was  also  here  an- 
other meeting  of  Delegates  from  the  Presbyterians 
southward  and  the  Congregationalists  this  wa}^,  in 
further  pursuance  of  their  grand  design  of  coalescing 
or  union,  but  what  they  have  done  we  know  not.  It 
is  said  there  was  much  disputing,  and  therefore  we 
suspected  they  did  not  all  agree."  These  meetings 
were  continued  annually  for  a  period  of  nine  years, 
until  the  distracted  situation  of  pubUc  affairs  inter- 
rupted them;  and  it  has  since  come  to  light  that  the 
prominent  object  of  them  was  to  concert  measures  for 


256       HISTORY  OF  the  episcopal  church 

preventing  the  introduction  of  Bishops  into  this  coun- 
try, and  for  "guarding  the  hberties  of  the  churches 
against  all  encroachments." 

The  new  form  in  which  the  effort  to  secure  the 
Episcopate  was  pushed  at  this  season  was  by  an  "Ap- 
peal to  the  Public,"  written  b}^  Dr.  Chandler,  and  pub- 
lished at  New  York  in  1767,  with  a  courteous  dedi- 
cation to  the  Primate  of  all  England,  the  saintly 
Seeker. 

Previous  to  its  appearance,  however,  the  Bishop  of 
Landaff  (Dr.  Ewer),  in  his  anniversary  sermon  before 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  deliv- 
ered in  the  beginning  of  the  year,  had  referred  to  the 
state  of  religion  in  some  of  the  colonies  as  not  much 
above  infidelity  and  heathenism,  and  there  were  those 
who,  without  sufficient  reason,  imagined  his  reference 
to  be  particularly  to  New  England.  Among  this 
number  was  Dr.  Charles  Chauncey  of  Boston,  a  Con- 
gregational divine  of  considerable  celebrity,  who  pub- 
lished an  ingenious  "Letter  to  a  Friend,"  containing 
remarks  on  certain  passages  in  the  sermon,  and  rep- 
resenting the  injurious  consequences  of  sending  Bish- 
ops to  this  country,  besides  stating  the  sole  design  of 
the  Society  to  be  "to  Episcopize  the  colonies."  He 
stirred  up  the  old  fears  about  religious  persecution, 
and,  for  effect  in  England,  said:  "It  may  be  relied  on, 
our  people  would  not  be  easy,  if  restrained  in  the 
exercise  of  that  liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made 
them  free;  yea,  they  would  hazard  everything  dear 
to  them,  their  estates,  their  very  lives,  rather  than 
suffer  their  necks  to  be  put  under  that  yoke  of  bond- 
age, which  was  so  sadly  galling  to  their  fathers,  and 
occasioned  their  retreat  into  this  distant  land,  that 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  257 

they  might  enjoy  the  freedom  of  men  and  Chris- 
tians." 

He  was  followed,  a  little  later,  by  another  cham- 
pion on  the  same  side,  Mr.  William  Livingston,  a  law- 
yer of  New  York,  who  adopted  his  argiunents  and 
embellished  them  with  the  flowers  of  rhetoric,  but 
added  no  strength  or  interest  to  the  controversy,  ex- 
cept that  he  drew  forth  "A  Vindication  of  the  Bishop 
of  Landaff's  Sermon,"  in  a  pamphlet  of  eighty-two 
pages,  published  anonymously,  and  characterized  by 
thorough  research,  a  full  knowledge  of  the  subject  in 
all  its  parts,  manly  argument,  playful  sallies  of  wit, 
and  sharp  and  pungent  criticism. 

The  "Appeal  to  the  Public,"  by  Dr.  Chandler,  was 
not  undertaken  on  the  sole  judgment  of  the  author. 
It  "was  requested  by  many  of  his  brethren,"  and  par- 
ticularly imposed  upon  him  by  his  venerable  friend  at 
Stratford,  who  for  more  than  forty  years  had  been 
the  distino-uished  advocate  of  the  Church  of  England 
in  the  colonies,  and  who,  therefore,  seemed  to  be  the 
most  proper  person  still  to  plead  the  cause  of  an 
American  Episcopate.  But  a  tremor  in  the  hand 
rendered  it  extremely  difficult  for  Dr.  Johnson  to  use 
his  pen,  and  so  he  applied  to  one  whose  learning,  ac- 
complishments, and  ability  he  well  knew,  and  whom 
he  freely  counselled  in  the  whole  plan  and  prosecu- 
tion of  the  work.^  The  clergy  of  New  York  and  New 
Jersey,  with  a  few  from  the  neighboring  provinces, 
being  assembled  in  a  voluntary  Convention,  favored 

J  "  We  are  greatly  oblitred  to  my  Lord  of  Landaff  for  so  stronuousl}-  plead- 
ing our  cause  in  his  anniversary  sermon.  As  I  doubted  wlietlicr  anytliing 
would  be  done  at  home  on  that  subject,  I  urged  and  assisted  Dr.  Chandler 
to  publish  an  appeal  to  the  public  in  its  behalf,  which  I  think  he  has  well 
done." — MS.  Letter  of  Johnson  to  Seeker,  September  25,  17C7. 
17 


258         HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

the  suggestion  of  the  Connecticut  divine;  for,  after  a 
thorough  discussion  of  the  propriety  and  expediency  of 
making  the  appeal,  "they  were  unanimously  of  opin- 
ion, that,  fairly  to  explain  the  plan  on  which  American 
Bishops  had  been  requested,  to  lay  before  the  public 
the  reasons  of  this  request,  to  answer  the  objections 
that  had  been  made,  and  to  obviate  those  that  might 
be  otherwise  conceived  against  it,  was  not  only  proper 
and  expedient,  but  a  matter  of  necessity  and  duty." 

After  the  controversies  and  publications  of  former 
years,  it  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that  any  attrac- 
tive novelty  would  be  thrown  around  the  subject. 
The  most  which  the  author  could  hope  to  accomplish 
was  to  satisfy  the  American  public  that  the  appre- 
hensions of  evil  to  grow  out  of  the  establishment  of 
an  Episcopate  were  groundless;  that  it  was  no  part 
of  the  plan  to  interfere  with  the  rights  and  privileges 
of  other  religious  bodies,  much  less  to  encroach  upon 
the  powers  of  the  State;  and  that  it  was  but  simple 
justice  to  churchmen  to  allow  that  want  to  be  sup- 
plied, which,  as  the  Bishop  of  Landaff  well  said,  "hath 
been  all  along  the  more  heavily  lamented,  because  it 
is  a  case  so  singular  that  it  cannot  be  paralleled  in 
the  Christian  world." 

The  publication  circulated  but  slowly,  and  found  its 
way  with  difficulty  into  the  southern  provinces.  The 
author,  in  speaking  of  this  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Johnson, 
said:  "But  I  have  had  most  amazing  success  with  one 
sent  to  the  northward,  which  has  occasioned  an  offer 
from  Sir  William  Johnson  of  an  estate,  that  in  a  few 
years  will  of  itself  be  a  sufficient  support  for  a  Bishop. 
His  letter  to  me  on  the  occasion  I  have  transcribed, 
and  herewith  send  you  a  copy.    He  has  offered  20,000 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  259 

acres  of  excellent  land,  weU  situated,  towards  the  sup- 
port of  an  American  Episcopate,  and  written  in  a 
most  pressing  manner  to  the  Lords  of  Trade  and  Plan- 
tations in  its  behalf" 

The  Appeal,  which  seems  to  have  been  regarded  by 
candid  men  among  all  denominations  as  a  moderate 
and  reasonable  thing,  had  been  issued  from  the  press 
scarcely  six  months  before  it  was  furiously  and  si- 
multaneously attacked  from  various  quarters.  The 
"American  Whig"  appeared  in  the  New  York  Gazette, 
in  a  series  of  unmanly  and  virulent  essays,^  while  a 
twin-brother  of  his  started  up  in  a  Philadelphia  jour- 
nal, under  the  name  of  the  "Sentinel";  and  the  alarm 
thus  sounded  reached  to  Boston,  and  was  instantly 
echoed  from  the  presses  of  these. three  principal  cities, 
as  if  they  had  entered  into  a  combmation  to  crush  out 
every  atom  of  popular  sympathy  with  the  plan  pro- 
posed in  the  pamphlet  of  Dr.  Chandler. 

It  is  not  in  poor  human  nature  to  receive  such  at- 
tacks with  indifference.  Gross  personahties  and  rail- 
ing accusations  are  seldom  met  in  the  spirit  which 
betrays  no  infirmity,  and  hence  those  on  the  other 
side,  in  answering  their  adversaries,  often  dipped  theu' 
pens  in  the  same  bitterness,  and  wrote  with  unsparing 
severity.  The  newspaper  productions  of  that  day  were 
too  much  steeped  in  rancorous  feelings,  and  some  of 
them  descended  to  that  low  wit  and  scurrility  which 
never  fail  to  weaken  or  defeat  the  very  best  cause. 
It  is  due,  however,  to  the  author  of  the  Appeal  to 

1  "The  first  Wing  was  written  by  Livingston;  the  second,  by  Smith; 

the  third,  by ;  and  the  fourth,  by   Smith,  as  far  as  to  the  thunder 

gulf",  and  then  Livingston  went  on  in  his  high  prancing  style." —  MS.  Letter 
of  Chandler  to  Johnson. 


260  HISTORY  OF  THE   EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

statCj  that,  in  all  his  writings  on  the  subject,  he  main- 
tained his  dignity,  and  showed  himself  alike  the  Chris- 
tian and  the  scholar.  He  directed  his  principal  atten- 
tion to  one  huge  pamphlet  of  more  than  two  hundred 
pages,  entitled  "The  Appeal  to  the  Public  Answered," 
written  by  Dr.  Charles  Chauncey,  the  same  divine  be- 
fore mentioned,  and  a  tried  combatant  in  the  field 
of  religious  controversy,  having  measured  lances 
twenty  years  before  Avith  Jonathan  Edwards,  in  oppo- 
sition to  many  of  the  Calvinistic  doctrines  and  views 
of  theology.  Though  he  wrote  with  ability.  Dr.  Chaun- 
cey contributed  no  new  arguments  to  his  side  of  the 
question,  but  made  some  statements  which  betrayed 
his  ici^norance  of  the  Church,  and  his  unfairness  as  an 
advocate  of  the  broad  principles  of  Christian  liberty. 
In  his  concluding  section  there  is  this  strange  asser- 
tion, all  the  appeals  and  remonstrances  and  petitions 
of  the  Missionaries  for  nearly  half  a  century  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding:  "We  are  as  fully  per- 
suaded, as  if  they  had  openly  said  it,  that  they  have 
in  view  nothing  short  of  a  complete  Church  Hierarchy 
after  the  pattern  of  that  at  home,  with  like  officers  in 
all  their  various  degrees  of  dignity,  with  a  like  large 
revenue  for  their  grand  support,  and  with  the  allow- 
ance of  no  other  privilege  to  dissenters  but  that  of  a 
bare  toleration." 

Dr.  Chandler,  in  reply  to  this  production,  published 
"The  Appeal  Defended,"  which  breathed  a  truly  Chris- 
tian, becoming,  and  charitable  spirit,  and  with  the 
former  pamphlet  was  reprinted  in  England,  where  it 
seemed  to  be  necessary  to  plead  the  cause  as  well  as 
in  the  colonies.  A  second  production  from  the  pen 
of  his  antagonist  followed;  and  writing  playfully  to  a 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  261 

friend  in  reference  to  it,  he  said:  "The  thanks  of  his 
brethren  in  smoJcing  convocation  for  this  last  exploit 
were  formally  voted  him/  and  the  vote  circulated 
through  the  country  in  all  the  newspapers.  This  last 
circumstance,  more  than  its  real  qualities,  has  made  it 
necessary,  in  the  opinion  of  my  friends,  that  I  should 
write  again."  And  so  he  published,  in  1771,  his  third 
pamphlet,  entitled  "The  Appeal  Further  Defended," 
which  closed  the  controversy,  and  the  general  strug- 
gle for  an  American  Episcopate  was  ended. 

In  this  same  year  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cooper,  President  of 
King's  College,  New  York,  went  to  England,  bearing 
with  him  several  addresses  from  the  clergy  and  their 
Conventions;  and  Dr.  Chandler,  writing  to  his  vener- 
able friend  and  adviser  at  Stratford,  concerning  the 
object  of  his  visit,  remarked:  "He  goes  partly  as  a 
3fisswnanj  from  us,  in  order  to  convert  the  guardians 
of  the  Church  from  the  error  of  their  ways.  I  think 
our  sending  Missionaries  among  them  almost  as  ne- 
cessary as  their  sending  Missionaries  to  America. 
But  I  fear  the  difficulty  of  proselyting  such  a  nation 
will  be  found  greater  than  that  of  converting  the 
American  savages.  Notwithstanding,  I  never  yet  have 
despaired;  and  considering  the  reasonableness  of  our 
request,  and  that  all  the  motives  of  equity,  honor, 
and  sound  policy  conspire  to  favor  it,  I  never  can 
despair." 

1  A  General  Association  of  the  Pastors  of  the  consociated  churches  in 
Connecticut  met  at  Coventry,  June  21st,  17C8,  and  voted  their  thankg 
"to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Chauncey  of  Boston,  for  the  cood  service  he  had  done 
to  the  cause  of  relijjrion,  liberty,  and  truth,  in  his  judicious  answer  to  the 
Appeal  for  an  American  I'2piscopate,  and  in  his  defence  of  the  New-Eng- 
land churches  and  colonies  against  the  unjust  reflections  cast  upon  them 
in  the  Bishop  of  Landaff 's  sermon  before  the  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel." 


262         HISTORY   OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

Before  leaving  this  subject,  it  will  be  proper  to  go 
back  a  little  and  gather  up  some  things  which  have 
been  left  behind.  It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the 
whole  controversy  was  confined  to  clergymen,  or  that 
all  the  impediments  to  success  were  presented  by  di- 
vines of  the  Puritan  order.  While  the  discussion  was 
pending,  and  at  its  height,  the  General  Court,  or  Legis- 
lature, of  Massachusetts,  in  a  printed  instruction  to 
their  agent  at  London,  among  other  things,  directed 
him  to  use  his  utmost  interest  with  the  ministry  that 
no  Bishops  be  ever  sent  into  America.  The  Legisla- 
ture of  Virginia,  which  was  composed  chiefly  of  church- 
men, was  equally  decided  in  opposition,  though  on 
different  grounds,  and  in  a  different  way.  There  it 
took  the  form  of  a  vote  of  thanks  to  certain  clergy- 
men for  resisting,  in  a  thin  Convention,  the  formal 
sanction  of  the  movement  to  secure  an  American 
Episcopate, — a  movement  which  was  judged  to  be  in- 
expedient at  that  time  for  various  reasons,  and  espe- 
cially because  nothing  should  be  done  "to  weaken 
the  connection  between  the  mother-country  and  her 
colonies,"  or  "to  infuse  jealousies  and  fears  into  the 
minds  of  Protestant  dissenters,"  but  everything  "to 
preserve  peace,  heal  divisions,  and  calm  the  angry 
passions  of  an  inflamed  people." 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  263 


CHAPTER  XX. 

WILLIAM  SAMUEL  JOHNSON  A  SPECIAL  AGENT  TO  ENGLAND 
FROM  THE  COLONY  OF  CONNECTICUT;  DEATH  OF  ARCH- 
BISHOP SECKER;  AND  CLOSE  OF  THE  PUBLIC  CONTROVERSY 
CONCERNING  AN  AMERICAN  EPISCOPATE. 

A.  D.    1766-1771. 

The  day  before  Christmas,  1766,  "William  Samuel 
Johnson,  the  only  surviving  son  of  Dr.  Johnson,  de- 
parted for  England  as  a  special  agent  from  the  Colony 
of  Connecticut,  in  a  cause  of  great  importance,  depend- 
ing before  the  Lords  in  Council.  One  Mason  had  com- 
plained, in  behalf  of  some  Indians,  relative  to  the  title 
of  a  large  tract  of  land,  and  he  was  sent  to  defend  the 
colon}^  against  the  complaint,  and  to  establish  its 
chartered  rights.  His  sojourn  in  the  mother-country, 
much  to  the  displeasure  and  grief  of  his  friends,  was 
prolonged  for  nearly  five  years,  during  which  period 
other  matters,  both  of  a  pubUc  and  private  nature, 
were  committed  to  his  care. 

The  extensive  correspondence  of  his  venerable  father 
with  the  highest  dignitaries  of  the  Church,  and  the  re- 
spect which  they  uniformly  entertained  for  his  zeal 
and  learning  and  character,  gave  the  son  access  to 
the  best  society  and  the  best  means  of  information  on 
topics  of  vital  interest  to  America.  While,  therefore, 
the  general  struggle  to  secure  the  Episcopate  was 
going  on  in  this  country,  and  the  Missionaries  were 


264  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

pleading  and  writing  in  defence  of  the  measure,  he 
was  in  England  watching  the  signs  of  favor  shown 
to  it  by  the  Bishops  and  the  Ministry,  at  the  same 
time  that  he  narrowly  watched  those  Parliamentary 
proceedings  which  were  beginning  to  shape  the  des- 
tiny and  lead  to  the  independence  of  the  American 
colonies.  He  kept  his  father  supplied  with  all  the 
facts,  encouraging  and  discouraging,  that  came  within 
his  reach,  and  in  one  of  his  earliest  letters  to  hiiri 
said:  "The  Appeal  you  mention,  however  well  drawn 
up,  will,  I  fear,  have  very  little  effect.  Perhaps  the 
more  you  stir  about  this  matter  at  present,  the  worse 
it  will  be."  But  as  the  controversy  proceeded,  he  en- 
tered into  its  spirit,  and  was  pleased  to  observe  the 
approbation  bestowed  upon  Dr.  Chandler's  effort  by 
the  most  active  and  distinguished  prelates,  though 
still  himself  doubtinsr  its  beneficial  effects  in  that 
critical  posture  of  national  affairs.  In  the  summer 
of  1769,  when  the  war  of  pamphlets  was  almost  over, 
he  wrote  to  his  father  these  prudent  words:  "I  can- 
not but  say  I  am  glad  your  controversy  about  Amer- 
ican Bishops  seems  to  be  near  its  end,  since  I  am 
afraid  it  can  have  no  very  good  effects  there,  and  it 
produces  none  at  all  here.  It  is  surprising  how  little 
attention  is  j)aid  to  it.  Perhaps  it  may  in  some  meas- 
ure be  accounted  for  by  considering  that  they  are 
so  used  here  to  warm  controversial  publications  upon 
almost  every  subject,  that  they  are  become  a  sort  of 
Bnitum  fidmcn,  which  nobody  much  regards;  unless 
you  will  impute  it  rather  to  the  universal  pursuit  of 
wealth  and  pleasure,  in  which  they  are  all  absorbed, 
so  that  nothing  else  appears  to  be  of  any  consequence, 
which   is    perhaps    the    better   reason."     The    father 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  265 

also  appears  to  have  become  despondent  as  to  the 
issue,  for  in  the  same  year  he  said:  "I  will  only  add, 
for  the  sake  of  the  best  of  Churches,  that,  though  I 
am  sensible  nothhig  can  be  done  as  to  providing  an 
American  Episcopate,  in  the  present  unhappy  condi- 
tion of  things,  yet  I  do  humbly  hope  and  confide  that 
the  Venerable  Society  will  never  lose  sight  of  that 
most  important  object  till  it  is  accomplished;  for,  till 
then,  the  Church  here  must  be  so  far  from  ilourishing 
that  she  must  dwindle  and  be  contemptible  in  the 
eyes  of  all  other  denominations." 

As  the  agent  of  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  Dr. 
Johnson^  was  concerned  for  the  peace  of  its  people 
not  less  than  for  the  good  of  the  Church;  and  when 
Governor  Trumbull  wrote  to  him  to  know  what  were 
the  intentions  in  England  relative  to  American  Bish- 
ops, his  answer  was  just  such  an  one  as  a  cautious  and 
Christian  statesman  might  be  expected  to  give,  who 
looked  into  the  future  and  foresaw  the  gathering 
storm. 

"It  is  not  intended,  at  present,  to  send  any  Bishops 
into  the  American  colonies ;  had  it  been,  I  certainly 
should  have  acquainted  you  with  it.  And  should  it 
be  done  at  all,  you  may  be  assured  it  will  be  in  such 
manner  as  in  no  degree  to  prejudice,  nor,  if  possible, 
even  give  the  least  offence  to  any  denomination  of 
Protestants.  It  has  indeed  been  merely  a  religious, 
in  no  respect  a  political,  scheme.  As  I  am  myself  of 
the  Church  of  England,  you  will  not  doubt  that  I 
have  had  the  fullest  opportunity  to  be  intimately 
acquainted  w^ith  all  the  stages  that  have  ever  been 

1  At  the  instance  of  Arclibisliop  Seeker,  he  received  the  Diplomatic 
Degree  of  Doctor  of  Law  from  tlio  University  of  Oxford  in  1766. 


266  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

taken  in  this  affiiir,  and  you  may  rely  upon  it  that  it 
never  was,  nor  is,  the  intention,  or  even  wish,  of 
those  who  have  been  most  sanguine  in  the  matter, 
that  American  Bishops  should  have  any  the  least 
degree  of  secular  power  of  any  nature  or  kind  what- 
soever, much  less  any  manner  of  concern  or  connec- 
tion with  Christians  of  any  other  denomination,  nor 
even  any  power,  properly  so  called,  over  the  Laibj  of 
the  Church  of  England.  They  wish  them  to  have 
merely  the  spiritual  powers  which  are  incident  to  the 
Episcopal  character  as  such,  which,  in  the  ideas  of  that 
Church,  are  those  of  Ordination  and  Confirmation,  and 
of  presidmg  over  and  governing  the  clergy;  which 
can  of  course  relate  to  those  of  that  profession  only 
who  are  its  voluntary  subjects,  and  can  affect  nobody 
else.  More  than  this  would  be  thought  rather  disad- 
vantageous than  beneficial,  and  /  assure  you  tvoiild  he 
opposed  hi/  no  man  ivith  more  zeal  than  myself,  even  as  a 
friend  to  the  Church  of  England.  Nay,  I  have  the  stron- 
gest grounds  to  assure  you  that  more  would  not  be 
accej)ted  by  those  who  understand  and  wish  well  to 
the  design,  were  it  even  offered."^ 

On  the  3d  day  of  August,  1768,  died  the  Primate 
of  all  England;  according  to  Bishop  Lowth,  "the 
greatest,  the  best,  and  the  most  unexceptionable  char- 
acter that  our  ecclesiastical  annals  have  to  boast." 
During  the  long  period  of  his  Episcopate  he  held  an 
unremitting  correspondence  with  Dr.  Johnson,  and 
not  only  kept  himself  minutely  informed  of  the  state 
of  the  Church  in  this  country,  but  wrote  largely,  vig- 
orously, and  earnestly  in  defence  of  her  interests  and 
her  claims  to  favor.     His  letters  upon  that  measure, 

1  Johnsou  MSS. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  267 

which  was  one  of  the  dearest  wishes  of  his  heart,  and 
upon  all  subjects  connected  with  the  welfare  of  the 
Church  which  he  was  permitted  to  superintend  and 
bless  with  his  influence,  breathe  throughout  the  gen- 
tlest wisdom  and  the  jDurest  charity;  and  "the  volumes 
which  contain  them,"  says  Anderson,  "are  among  the 
most  precious  treasures  to  be  found  this  day  among  the 
manuscripts  of  Lambeth  Library."  Archbishop  Seeker 
"kept  uf)  the  noble  uniformity  of  his  character  to  the 
end,"  and,  like  Tenison,  one  of  his  predecessors  in  the 
Primacy,  evmced  his  regard  for  the  scheme  on  which 
his  thoughts  and  prayers  had  so  long  hung,  by  leaving 
to  the  Society,  in  his  will,  a  legacy  of  a  thousand 
pounds  sterling,  "  toAvards  the  establishment  of  a  Bishop 
or  Bishops  in  the  King's  dominions  in  America."  Had 
the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  who  was  then  at  the  head  of 
the  Ministry,  and  who  for  nearly  thirty  years  was  one 
of  the  two  Secretaries  of  State,  seen,  as  others  saw 
them,  the  real  wants  and  situation  of  the  colonies 
which  were  intrusted  to  his  keeping,  he  might  have 
warded  off  some  of  the  evils  and  disasters  which  after- 
wards befell  the  British  Government,  But  as  he  was 
slow  to  provide  the  means  of  temporal  defence,  so  he 
had  little  disposition  to  sanction  the  supply  of  spiritual 
help.  "Gibson  might  seek  for  powers  to  define  more 
accurately  the  commission  by  which  he  and  his  pred- 
ecessors in  the  See  of  London  were  authorized  to 
superintend  the  colonial  Churches,  and  the  terms  of 
which,  in  his  judgment,  were  wantmg  in  the  clearness 
which  was  necessary  to  make  the  superintendence  ef- 
fectual. Sherlock  might  present  to  the  King  his  ear- 
nest memorial  that  Bishops  might  forthwith  be  sent  out 
to  the  plantations,  and  receive  for  answer  that  it  was 


268  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

referred  to  the  Officers  of  State.  Seeker  mioht  exert 
towards  the  same  end  all  the  influence  which  he  had 
so  justly  gained  whilst  he  was  Rector  of  St.  James's, 
and  afterwards  while  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  and  Bishop 
of  Oxford.  He  might  renew  it  with  increased  zeal, 
through  all  the  ten  years  in  which  he  was  Primate. 
But  the  mass  of  inert  resistance,  presented  in  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  State  responsible  for  the  col- 
onies, was  too  great  to  be  overcome.  The  utmost 
which  the  repeated  exertions  of  all  these  men  could 
obtain  was  promise  after  promise  that  ministers  would 
'consider  and  confer  about  the  matter,'"^ — promises 
which  were  left  unfulfilled  until  those  who  received 
them  were  ready  to  confess  that  new  events  had 
changed  the  relation  of  things,  and  rendered  it  inex- 
pedient to  urge  the  immediate  accomplishment  of 
what  before  was  so  desirable.  The  fear  of  offending 
the  dissenters  in  this  country,  and  of  inclining  the 
people  to  independence,  had  stood  in  the  way  of  a 
measure,  right  in  itself,  and  only  postponed  from  time 
to  time  for  reasons  of  national  policy.  But  it  may 
be  remarked,  before  dismissing  the  point,  that  the  in- 
dependence of  the  colonies  was  finally  achieved,  and 
they  "were  lost  to  England,  not  less  through  her  neg- 
lect of  them  in  matters  spiritual,  than  her  oppressive 
treatment  of  them  in  matters  temporal." 

The  Missionaries  throughout  the  colony,  during  the 
period  while  the  last  great  struggle  for  the  Episco- 
pate was  going  on,  were  diligent  in  the  performance 
of  their  duties,  and  alive  to  all  the  opportunities  for 
extending  the  Church.  Some  were  removed  to  other 
spheres  of  labor,  and  their  places  supplied  by  those 

I  Anderson's  Colonial  Church,  Vol.  III.  p.  443. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  269 

who  held  been  recently  ordained.  Ebenezer  Kneeland, 
a  graduate  of  Yale  College  in  17G1,  who  went  to 
England  for  ordination  three  years  later,  had  re- 
turned to  this  country,  and  having  served  for  a  time 
as  chaplain  in  a  British  regiment,  had  become  settled 
at  Stratford  as  an  Assistant  to  Dr.  Johnson.  That 
venerable  divine  had  conceived  the  plan  of  "holding" 
in  the  place  of  his  retirement  "a  little  Academy,  or 
resource  for  young  students  of  Divinity,  to  prepare 
them  for  Holy  Orders;"  and  Mr.  Kneeland,  who  mar- 
ried his  granddaughter,  aided  him  both  in  the  parish 
and  in  <i;iYiiio;  classical  and  theoloo-ical  instruction. 
Many  were  thus  guided  and  improved  in  their  knowl- 
edge of  Hebrew,  and  in  the  study  of  systematic  Divm- 
ity.  "Writing  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Society,  June 
11th,  1770,  Dr.  Johnson  said:  "I  have  several  times 
directed  one  or  more  m  their  studies,  and  have  now 
four  here;"  of  which  number,  John  Rutgers  Marshall, 
born  in  New  York  city,  of  parents  who  belonged  to 
the  Dutch  Reformed  persuasion,  and  a  graduate  of 
King's  College,  crossed  the  Atlantic  for  Orders  in  mid- 
summer of  the  next  year,  and  returned  in  the  autumn 
with  the  appointment  of  a  Missionar}^  to  Woodbury. 
John  Tyler,  a  native  of  Wallingford,  and  a  graduate 
of  Yale  College,  also  passed  under  his  instruction  in 
Hebrew  and  Divinity,  some  two  years  earlier,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  England  with  the  desire  of  being  ordained 
and  appointed  for  Guilford,  made  vacant  by  the  re- 
moval of  Mr.  Hubbard  to  New  Haven ;  a  removal,  to 
quote  the  language  of  the  Church-wardens  in  their 
appeal  to  the  Society,  "so  distressing  to  the  people, 
that  words  cannot  express  it."  Dr.  Johnson,  in  a 
communication  bearing  date  September  27,  1767,  has 


270         HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

this  paragraph:  "The  affair  of  Mr.  Hubbard  leaving 
Guilford  was  so  tender  and  difficult  that  he  was 
obliged  to  hold  it  in  some  suspense,  till  he  could  have 
the  advice  of  the  Convention  we  had  lately  at  New 
Haven,  when  we  counselled  him  to  remove  thither;  but 
we  advised  the  New  Haven  people  to  be  content  that 
he  should  visit  Guilford  two  or  three  times  in  a  year, 
which  they  seemed  to  acquiesce  in;  but  I  am  humbly 
of  opinion  that  it  would  be  well  for  the  Society  to 
order  this,  and  to  order  me  to  take  care  of  Milford."^ 
Shortly  before  his  removal,  Mr.  Hubbard  reported  up- 
wards of  eighty  families  belonging  to  his  cure  in  these 
three  places,  Guilford,  North  Guilford,  and  Killing- 
worth,  and  eighty  communicants.  He  could  "decently 
support  himself  with  a  small  paternal  interest  of  his 
own,"  without  calling  largely  upon  the  people ;  but  if 
Mr.  Tyler  was  appointed  his  successor,  Guilford  must 
be  erected  into  a  distinct  Mission  and  have  a  generous 
appropriation,  which  the  Venerable  Board,  in  the  pres- 
ent aspect  of  things,  and  in  the  present  state  of  their 
finances,  were  unwilling  to  allow.  Mr.  Tyler,  therefore, 
was  sent  to  Norwich,  his  second  choice,  a  mission  re- 
cently vacated  by  the  transfer  of  Mr.  Beardsley,  at  his 
own  request,  to  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.  In  1767,  Abra- 
ham Beach,  born  in  Cheshire,  and  Richard  Samuel 
Clarke,  born  at  West  Haven,  both  Alumni  of  Yale  Col- 
lege, embarked  for  England  to  receive  ordination ;  and 
while  one  of  them,  on  their  return,  found  his  work 
within  the  limits  of  another  province,  Mr.  Clarke  pro- 
ceeded to  New  Milford,  and  was  occupied  in  that  ex- 
tensive region,  where  "the  harvest  was  truly  plente- 
ous," though  "the  laborers  were  few."   In  1769,  the  list 

1  Johnson  MSS. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  271 

of  Missionaries  of  the  Society  actually  resident  in  Con- 
necticut had  reached  to  seventeen,  and  to  this  list 
the  name  of  Marshall  only  was  added  in  the  next 
two  years. 

The  faithful  pastor  at  Newtown,  reporting  his  occa- 
sional services  in  the  newly  erected  church  at  Dan- 
bury,  an  edifice  "with  a  decent  steeple,"  and  large 
enough  to  "accommodate  from  400  to  500  people," 
said  with  much  feeling:  "Alas!  it  is  but  little  that  so 
few  of  us  can  perform,  to  what  is  so  greatly  wanted. 
It  is  really  melancholy  to  observe  how  many  serious 
and  very  religious  people  of  late,  in  these  parts,  pro- 
fess themselves  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  ear- 
nestly desire  to  worship  God  in  that  way,  yet  are  as 
sheep  without  a  shepherd."  A  church  appears  to 
have  been  erected  earlier  than  this  at  Oxford,  then 
a  parish  or  district  in  the  town  of  Derby,  into  which 
Mansfield  had  carried  his  ministrations. 

Some  of  the  Missionaries  went  beyond  the  colony, 
and  made  occasional  visits  to  those  wide  tracts  of 
country  which  were  wholly  unsupplied  with  the  min- 
istrations of  our  Church.  Andrews,  at  the  earnest 
and  repeated  solicitations  of  several  members  of  our 
communion,  undertook,  in  1767,  a  long  journey  into 
"different  towns  and  governments  to  the  northward," 
preaching,  lecturing,  and  administering  the  sacraments 
as  he  passed  from  village  to  village.  What  had  been 
uncultivated  districts  at  the  conclusion  of  the  late  war, 
were  now  surprisingly  filled  up  with  inhabitants,  and 
the  blossoming  of  the  rose  was  beginning  to  show 
itself  in  "the  wilderness  and  the  solitary  place."  He 
penetrated  to  Allington,  in  New  Hampshire,  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  from  his  homej  and  though  he 


272  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

was  the  first  clergyman  who  had  appeared  among 
the  settlers,  he  found  that  a  la^^man  from  Connecticut 
had  been  there  before  hhn  with  the  services  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  had  read  prayers  for  them 
in  his  own  house,  constantly  on  Sundays,  ever  since 
their  entrance  into  the  region.  In  the  next  year, 
Mansfield  of  Derby  followed  his  In-other  Missionary 
over  much  the  same  ground,  and,  like  him,  was  em- 
ployed on  the  journe}^  nearly  three  weeks.  "The 
people,"  he  said,  in  his  report  to  the  Society,  "ex- 
pressed themselves  very  thankful  to  me  for  coming 
among  them;  but  being  new  settlers,  and  generally 
poor,  were  not  able  to  contribute  to  me  half  enough 
to  defray  the  expenses  of  my  journey.  On  my  way 
homewards,  I  preached  at  New  Concord,  within  the 
Colony  of  New  York,  about  twenty  miles  distant  from 
Albany,  where  there  are  about  twenty  families  of  the 
Church  of  England,  who  hope  that  Mr.  Bostwick,  a 
candidate  for  Holy  Orders,  will  be  ordained  and  settled 
among  them." 

At  this  time  there  was  but  one  Episcopal  church 
in  the  Province  of  New  Hampshire,  and  that  was  at 
Portsmouth,  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Rev.  Ar- 
thur Browne.  A  few  conformists  to  the  Church  of 
England  and  inhabitants  of  Claremont,  a  newly  settled 
town  in  the  same  province,  memorialized  the  clergy 
of  Connecticut,  "convened  at  New  Milford  in  Trinity 
week,"  1769,  reciting  their  state  of  spiritual  destitu- 
tion, and  asking  to  be  represented  to  the  Venerable 
Society  as  desirous,  if  they  could  have  nothing  more, 
of  the  appointment  of  a  Catechist  and  Schoolmaster 
among  them  for  a  few  years,  until  they  had  passed 
"the  first  difficulties  and  hardships  of  a  wild,  unculti- 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  273 

vated  country."  The  individual  for  whose  appoint- 
ment they  asked  was  Samuel  Cole,  Esq.,  a  graduate 
of  Yale  College  in  1731.  He  had  followed  the  voca- 
tion of  a  Schoolmaster  for  many  years,  and  was  at 
that  time  an  inhabitant  and  proprietor  of  Claremont, 
where  he  died  in  1777.  The  inscription  upon  his 
tombstone  says:  "He  followed  the  work  of  the  Min- 
istry for  a  number  of  years,  and  was  the  founder  of 
several  churches  in  Connecticut,"  —  a  remark  which 
has  reference  to  his  services  as  lay  reader  in  Litchfield 
County.  It  was  by  the  advice  of  the  same  Conven- 
tion, assembled  at  Litchfield  in  June  of  the  next  year, 
that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Peters  began  a  more  extended  jour- 
ney into  the  northern  provmces,  penetrating  farther 
and  wider,  baptizing  many  children,  and  "preaching 
as  often  as  every  other  day."  He  closed  the  minute 
report  of  his  journey  with  the  exclamation,  "God  be 
praised  for  my  preservation,  and  that  I  am  ahve  to 
pity  and  to  pray  for  those  in  the  wilderness." 

The  Missionaries  had  under  their  charge  a  large 
number  of  families,  though  scattered  and  spread  over 
a  p^eat  extent  of  territory;  and  some  of  them  bap- 
tized from  fifty  to  one  hundred  cliildren  m  each  year. 
A  second  and  larger  church  arose  at  Cheshire  in  1770, 
to  take  the  place  of  the  first  edifice ;  but  the  only  fresh 
ground  broken  in  the  last  lustrum  was  in  the  north- 
eastern part  of  the  colony,  where  the  Missionaries 
had  sometimes  penetrated,  but  where  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church  of  England  had  not  hitherto  taken  root 
and  spread.  In  17GG  Godfrey  Malbone,  a  gentleman 
of  fortune  from  Newport,  who  had  been  educated  at 
Queen's  College,  Oxford,  and  had  returned  to  his  na- 
tive land  with  all  the  tastes  of  a  polished  scholar  and 

18 


274         HISTORY   OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

with  an  increased  attachment  to  the  rites  and  cere- 
monies of  the  estabhshed  Church,  retired  to  an  ex- 
tensive estate  in  that  part  of  Pomfret  which  is  now 
called  Brooklyn ;  and  about  the  same  time  John  Aplin, 
an  eminent  lawyer  of  Providence,  and  a  zealous  church- 
man, removed  to  live  on  his  estate  in  the  adjoining 
town  of  Plainfield.  Each  soon  felt  the  want  of  the 
delightful  and  sublime  service  to  which  he  had  been 
accustomed,  a  want  that  could  not  be  supplied  with- 
out going  to  Norwich,  a  distance  of  twenty-two  miles. 
The  immediate  origin  of  a  movement  for  a  church 
was  the  vote  of  a  majority  of  the  inhabitants,  in  that 
district  of  the  town  where  Mr.  Malbone  resided,  to  re- 
build the  Congregational  meeting-house,  and  to  levy, 
for  that  purpose,  a  tax  upon  the  people  in  proportion 
to  their  estates.  So  great  were  the  possessions  of  this 
gentleman,  that  about  one  eighth  part  of  the  whole  ex- 
pense must  fall  to  his  share;  and  because  no  such  new 
edifice  was  needed,  and  having  no  sympathy  with  the 
teachings  of  Congregationalism',  never  having  entered 
one  of  its  houses  to  worship,  he  firmly  determined  not 
to  submit  to  the  demand,  but  rather  from  his  own 
purse,  and  with  the  assistance  of  his  friends,  to  erect 
an  Episcopal  church  on  the  confines  of  Pomfret,  Can- 
terbury, and  Plainfield.  About  forty  families  sub- 
scribed to  this  proposal  in  1769,  some  of  them  doubt- 
less his  own  tenants,  but  the  main  expense  devolved 
on  Malbone,  who  bore  it  cheerfully;  and  the  church, 
whose  foundations  were  laid  in  the  next  year,  was 
neatly  finished,  and  opened  for  Divine  service  on  the 
12th  of  April,  1771,  by  Mr.  Tyler,  the  Missionary  at 
Norwich,  and  the  sermon  which  he  preached  on  that 
occasion  was  published.     Few  laymen  in  the  colony 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  275 

had  sharper  opposition  to  contend  with  in  upholding 
the  distinctive  reHgious  faith  of  their  fathers  than 
Malbone.  Quitting  Newport,  the  place  of  his  nativ- 
ity, to  escape  the  noise  and  tumults  which  then  pre- 
vailed m  the  large  American  towns,  he  j)romised  him- 
self, in  his  rural  retirement,  calm  and  settled  repose. 
He  was  not  without  eccentricities  of  character,  but  he 
endeared  himself  to  those  who  were  capable  of  appre- 
ciating his  excellent  qualities;  and  in  the  opinion  of 
his  most  uncharitable  Congregational  adversaries,  he 
was  a  very  good  man,  except  that  he  was  "a  church- 
man, and  sometimes  swore  a  little."  The  parish  grew 
under  his  fostering  care,  and  the  church  which  he 
built  is  still  standing,  though  inconveniently  located 
to  gather  the  people. 

All  the  parishes  in  Connecticut  were  now  in  a  pros- 
perous condition.  Hubbard,  in  a  letter  to  the  Society 
dated  July  8,  1771,  said:  "The  number  of  families  in 
New  Haven  is  now,  I  believe,  nearly  one  hundred, 
and  in  the  parish  of  West  Haven  about  thirty-five.  .  .  . 
I  continue  occasionally  to  preach  and  give  the  Sacra- 
ment at  Guilford,  and  have  performed  Sunday  services, 
in  parishes  adjoining  New  Haven,  to  people  well  af- 
fected toward  the  Church."  The  venerable  Beach, 
three  months  afterwards,  reported  in  his  cure  three 
hundred  and  twenty-seven  actual  communicants;  and 
in  reference  to  the  inhabitants  of  Newtown,  he  ob- 
served :  "  Though,  at  the  first  setting  up  of  the  Church 
in  these  parts,  the  dissenters  discovered  a  very  bitter 
spirit,  yet  now  we  live  in  more  friendship  and  amity 
with  them  than  they  do  among  themselves." 


276  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

SUPPORT  OF  THE  CLERGY;  RENEWAL  OF  THEIR  APPEAL  FOR  A 
BISHOP;  AND  PROCEEDINGS  OF  DELEGATES  FROM  THE  SYNOD 
OF  NEW  YORK  AND  PHILADELPHIA,  AND  FROM  THE  ASSOCI- 
ATIONS  OF   CONNECTICUT. 

A.  D.  1771-1772. 

The  support  of  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England 
in  the  Colony  of  Connecticut  was  never  so  liberal  as 
to  excite  the  envy  of  their  Congregational  brethren. 
The  annual  stipend  allowed  to  each  one  by  the  So- 
ciety was  usually  from  <£40  to  £60  sterling,  and  unless 
the  people  provided  a  suitable  parsonage  and  glebe, 
and  contributed  an  equal  amount  yearly  towards  his 
maintenance,  the  clerical  office  was  hardly  surrounded 
in  any  place  by  a  degree  of  dignity  and  decency  suffi- 
cient to  command  public  respect.  Few  of  the  Mis- 
sionaries had  any  private  means,  and  though  they 
lived  frugally,  in  conformity  with  the  habits  of  the 
times,  they  were  obliged  occasionally  to  state  their 
wants  and  the  disadvantages  of  an  inadequate  sup- 
port. "  Clothe  the  office  of  Christ  in  rags,"  said  Jarvis, 
"and  it  will  sink  into  neglect  and  dishonor,  and  be  as 
undesirable  as  He  himself  was.  Experience  gives  but 
too  melancholy  a  proof  of  this,  exemplified  in  the 
Church  among  us,  as  more  or  less  respected  in  par- 
ticular congregations,  according  as  its  maintenance  is 
respectable." 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  277 

Mr.  Jands  liad  not  yet  been  taken  into  the  service 
of  the  Society,  but  he  had  ministered  faithfully  to  the 
people  at  Middletown  for  eleven  years,  receiving  only 
what  they  could  raise  for  him,  which  was  but  a 
meagre  support.  In  view  of  labors  thus  imrequited, 
Mr.  Learning,  who  "gave  them  all  the  lime  with  which 
they  built  their  church,  and  £7  10s.  towards  purchas- 
ing a  house  and  glebe,"  wrote  in  behalf  of  the  Conven- 
tion in  Connecticut,  assembled  September  8,  1773, 
and  earnestly  requested  the  Venerable  Board  to 
"order  one  half  of  the  salary  formerly  given  the  late 
Mr.  Lamson,  at  Fairfield,  to  Mr.  Jarvis,  at  Middletown." 
In  the  beginning  of  1772  Mr.  Lamson  had  contem- 
plated removing  to  a  new  Mission,  which  he  was  de- 
sirous that  the  Society  should  establish  in  Duchess 
County,  in  the  Province  of  New  York,  a  region  which 
he  had  visited  during  the  previous  summer  in  his 
official  capacity;  but  his  scheme  was  not  readily  en- 
tertained or  carried  into  effect,  probably  for  the  rea- 
son already  stated,  that  the  Board  was  disinclined  at 
that  period  to  undertake  the  care  of  additional  sta- 
tions. Mr.  Lamson  died  the  next  year,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded at  Fairfield,  in  1774,  by  the  Rev.  John  Sayre, 
who  was  transferred  from  Newburg,  New  York,  where 
his  ministry  had  received  the  commendation  of  his 
patrons  and  been  eminentl}^  successful. 

The  Libraries  of  the  clergy,  furnished,  to  some  ex- 
tent, by  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gos- 
pel and  by  individual  munificence  in  England,  were 
small.  That  of  Viets  at  Simsbury  was  one  of  the 
largest  and  best  selected  in  the  colony;  and  though 
an  excellent  scholar,  and  a  man  of  considerable  cul- 
ture and  refined  taste,  yet  his  salary  was  so  slender 


278  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

that  he  was  compelled,  besides  his  clerical  duties,  to 
attend  to  agricultural  pursuits  in  the  summer,  and  oc- 
cupy himself  in  teaching  a  sort  of  parochial  school  in 
the  winter.  The  people  among  whom  his  lot  was  cast 
were  for  the  most  part  poor,  but  "honest  and  well- 
behaved";  and  being  the  only  Missionary  in  what  now 
constitutes  Hartford  County,  he  had  a  wide  field  to 
watch  and  cultivate,  and  was,  therefore,  like  St.  Paul, 
"in  labors  abundant."  The  Congregj^tional  ministry 
around  him  was  intellectually  strong,  and  the  oppo- 
sition with  which  he  was  forced  to  contend  was 
charged  with  all  the  bitterness  which  had  been  mani- 
fested in  other  parts  of  the  colony.  As  the  storms 
which  preceded  the  Revolution  gathered  in  blackness, 
he  continued,  like  his  brethren,  to  devote  himself  to 
his  sacred  duties,  and  found  occasion  to  support  the 
hopes  of  his  parishioners  living  within  the  limits  of 
adjoining  towns,  because  "of  late  they  had  been  dis- 
trained of  their  goods,  and  some  of  them  imprisoned, 
for  dissenting  taxes  or  rates."  But  so  much  did  the 
people  under  his  pastoral  care  multiply,  that,  with  the 
exception  of  Newtown  and  New  Haven,  the  number 
of  Episcopalians  in  Simsbury  in  1774  was  greater 
than  in  any  other  town  of  Connecticut. 

The  effort  to  establish  the  Church  in  Hartford  was 
not  attended  with  the  same  measure  of  prosjDerity. 
There  disaster  befell  the  enterprise  begun  in  1762; 
for  after  the  lot  had  been  secured,  and  the  foundations 
of  an  edifice  in  which  to  worship  God  had  been  laid, 
the  work  languished,  and  was  finally  suspended.  One 
of  the  committee  "of  the  associated  brethren  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  commonly  called  the  Church  of 
England,"  having  the  matter  in  charge,  was  a  surgeon 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  279 

of  considerable  eminence,  who  had  advanced  funds 
for  its  prosecution,  but  he  became  embarrassed  in  his 
pecuniary  affairs,  and  "was  visited  with  mental  de- 
rangement." In  this  condition  of  mind,  he  appears 
to  have  "believed  himself  at  liberty  to  disjDOse  of  what 
he  had  assisted  to  purchase,"  and  so  the  stones  passed 
into  the  possession  of  a  neighboring  proprietor,  who 
used  them  as  the  foundation  of  his  own  dwelling.  The 
land  was  transferred  to  one  of  his  creditors,  who  held 
and  occupied  it  until  after  the  Kevolution.  The  Rev. 
Mr,  Dibblee,  "at  the  earnest  request  of  the  Church- 
wardens," visited  Hartford  and  preached  there  on 
Trinity  Sunday  in  1770;  and  writing  to  the  Society 
in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  he  thus  referred  to 
the  embarrassments  of  the  people:  "They  have  ap- 
plied for  advice  and  assistance,  being  involved  in  a 
contentious  lawsuit,  in  defence  of  the  rights  of  their 
Church;  an  encroachment  having  been  made  on  a 
piece  of  land  lately  bought  and  sequestered  to  build 
a  church  upon,  and  a  beautiful  foundation  of  hewn 
stone  laid  in  place  of  the  one  removed.  It  appeared 
to  us  in  Convention  to  be  a  wicked  design  of  a  pow- 
erful family  so  to  demolish  the  Church  there  that  it 
might  never  rise ;  and  as  we  judged  the  claimant  had 
no  right,  in  law  or  equity,  and  as  such  conduct,  as 
we  were  told,  was  disapproved  of  by  many  of  the 
dissenters,  we  could  not  but  approve  of  the  professors 
of  the  Church  seeking  a  redress  of  such  a  sacrilegious 
alienation.  In  the  mean  time,  to  support  their  efibrts, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Leaming  preached  there  Sunday  after 
Convention,  and  the  clergy  in  general  engaged  to 
take  their  turns;  but  we  particularly  recommended 
them  to  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Peters." 


280  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

The  suit  was  prolonged  until  after  the  Revolution, 
when  the  Superior  Court  pronounced  the  sale  illegal, 
and  the  land  reverted  to  its  rightful  claimants,  not 
until  the  occupant,  however,  had  applied  to  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  acting  as  a  Court  of  Chancery,  and  ob- 
tained a  decree  in  his  favor  of  about  sixty  jDOunds, 
— the  value  of  an  established  lien  upon  the  property. 

Signs  of  increased  interest  in  the  services  of  the 
Church  appeared  in  other  places.  Mr.  Graves,  at  Ne*v 
London,  where  his  parishioners  increased  but  slowly, 
had  not  only  long  watched  to  promote  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  the  Indian  tribes  in  his  vicinity,  but  he  had 
frequently  gone  to  the  borders  of  the  Connecticut 
River;  and  at  Middle  Haddam,  and  Chatham  and  in- 
termediate towns,  he  had  officiated  in  private  dwell- 
ings and  gained  adherents  to  Episcopacy.  The  more 
he  was  hindered  and  opposed  in  these  Missionary  ex- 
cursions, the  more  his  zeal  was  excited,  and  his  reso- 
lution invigorated  to  persevere  and  obey  the  com- 
mands of  his  Divine  Master.  "I  cannot,"  said  he,  in 
a  letter  to  the  Society,  dated  New  Year's  day,  1772, 
"fight  long  under  His  banner;  but  while  I  exist,  I  will, 
by  grace,  redeem  the  time,  and  double  my  diligence 
in  His  vineyard.  I  must  not  conceal  the  Christian 
resolution  of  my  hearers  in  Chatham  and  the  adjacent 
places;  the  audience  increases  daily.  Though  they 
are  not  able  to  build  a  church,  they  have  begun  to 
erect  a  large  shell  of  a  house  among  themselves.  I 
hope,  should  my  life  be  spared,  to  send  you  an  ac- 
count of  a  church  being  erected  at  a  place  called 
Colchester,  about  twelve  miles  from  Chatham,  where 
it  is  highly  probable  I  shall  have  a  large  number  of 
conformists  added  to  our  Zion." 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  281 

.  The  new  church  opened  at  Pomfret,  now  Brooklyn, 
in  the  sprmg  of  1771,  of  wliich  mention  has  akeady 
been  made,  received  its  first  resident  Missionary  in 
the  succeeding  year,  the  Society  having  departed  from 
its  resolution  and  extended  assistance,  in  consideration 
of  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  this  case.  The  Mis- 
sionary Avas  the  Rev.  Richard  Mosely,  who  "  came  out 
of  England  chaplain  to  the  Salisbury  man-of-war," 
and  was  allowed  £30  sterling  per  annum  from  the 
date  of  commencing  his  duties  in  the  parish.  But 
after  a  continuance  in  it  of  only  eight  months,  he 
relinquished  his  position,  which  he  seems  not  to  have 
desired,  or  intended  to  retain,  even  if  the  people  had 
wished  it,  and  by  a  new  order  of  the  Board  was  trans- 
ferred to  Litchfield,  then  recently  vacated  by  the 
death  of  that  veteran  Missionary,  the  Rev.  Solomon 
Palmer.  His  ministrations  in  this  place  were  at- 
tended with  but  little  success,  for  a  misunderstanding 
arose  between  him  and  the  parishioners,  which,  be- 
sides speedily  separating  him  from  the  Mission,  caused 
a  suspension  of  the  usual  appropriation  by  the  Ven- 
erable Society.  The  suspension  was  removed  after 
the  lapse  of  twelve  months,  upon  the  earnest  entreaty 
of  the  people,  their  "offence  in  the  ill  reception"  of 
Mr.  Mosely  forgiven,  and  the  Mission  at  Litchfield 
revived  under  the  charge  of  another  clergyman  with 
a  diminished  stipend. 

The  Rev.  Daniel  Fogg,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity in  1764,  who  had  spent  some  time  in  North 
Carolina,  was  appointed,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Mal- 
bone,  to  the  pastoral  care  of  Pomfret,  and  entered  upon 
his  duties  in  May,  1772,  when  the  number  of  famihes 


282  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

composing  the  congregation  did  not  exceed  twenty- 
five.  The  other  Missionaries  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
colony  remained  at  their  posts,  and  toiled  steadily  on 
in  the  midst  both  of  the  popular  mieasiness  and  of  the 
religious  disputes  and  contentions  of  the  dissenting 
churches.  The  hope  of  securing  an  American  Epis- 
copate still  lingered  in  the  prayers  of  all  the  clergy, 
and  mention  was  occasionally  made  of  it  in  the  letters 
which  they  wrote  home,  even  after  the  struggle  to 
obtain  it  had  been  given  up  for  the  present  as  entirely 
misuccessful.  "The  blessing  of  a  Bishojo,"  said  Graves, 
with  overheated  zeal,  in  a  jDOstscript  to  his  letter  of 
New  Year's  day,  "would  make  true  religion  and  loy- 
alty overspread  the  land.  Hasten,  hasten,  0  Lord! 
a  truly  spiritual  overseer  to  this  despised,  abused  per- 
secuted part  of  the  vineyard,  for  Christ  Jesus'  sake. 
Amen!  Amen!"  The  clergy  of  Connecticut,  in  vol- 
untary Convention,  assembled  May  29th,  1771,  again 
addressed  the  Bishop  of  London  on  the  subject;  and 
after  stating  that  the  plan  had  been  so  fully  explained 
that  "none  opposed  it,"  in  this  country,  "but  those 
who  did  it  out  of  malice  or  mere  wantonness,"  con- 
cluded the  argument  of  their  paper  thus:  "Should  our 
appUcation  be  judged  unreasonable,  we  doubt  not  it 
will  be  remembered  that  necessity  has  no  law.  We 
believe  Episcopacy  to  be  of  divine  origin.  We  judge 
an  American  Episcopate  to  be  essential,  at  least  to 
the  wellbeing  of  religion  here.  We  therefore  think 
it  our  duty  to  exert  ourselves,  in  every  proper  way, 
to  bring  it  into  effect:  and  as  we  know  of  no  way 
more  harmless,  nor  any  more  likely  to  insure  success, 
than  importunate  prayer  to  our  God,  to  our  King, 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  283 

and  to  our  superiors,  we  believe  it  our  duty  to  pray 
without  ceasing,  and  hoj^e  our  request  will  be  an- 
swered in  due  time,  if  we  faint  not."-' 

The  Missionaries,  though  aware  of  sleepless  oppo- 
sition, were  not  fully  acquainted  with  the  nature  of 
all  the  influences  brought  to  bear  against  them,  nor 
with  all  the  obstacles  to  the  success  of  their  prayers. 
Eeference  has  been  made  to  a  Convention  of  Dele- 
gates from  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
and  from  the  Cono-reo-ational  Associations  of  Connec- 
ticut,  held  annually  from  1766  to  1775,  inclusive. 
These  delegates  met  alternately  at  Elizabethtown, 
N.  J.,  and  in  different  towns  of  this  colony;  and  while 
they  professed  to  have  in  view  the  spread  of  the  Gos- 
pel and  the  promotion  of  Christian  friendshijD  between 
the  members  of  their  respective  bodies,  the  great  ob- 
ject which  rose  above  all  others  in  their  considera- 
tion was  the  prosecution  of  measures  for  "preserving 
the  religious  liberties  of  their  churches,"  which  they 
imagined  to  be  threatened  at  that  time  by  the  vigor- 
ous efforts  of  the  friends  of  the  Church  of  England  in 
this  country  and  in  Great  Britain  to  secure  an  Amer- 
ican Episcopate.  They  had  "Deputies  for  managing 
the  affairs  of  Dissenters  in  England,"  with  whom  they 
opened  a  correspondence,  and  at  each  annual  gathering 
a  letter  was  prepared,  read  and  approved,  and  then  sent 
over  as  an  expression  of  the  feelings,  the  fears,  and 
the  opinions  of  this  grave  body  convened,  to  use  their 
own  words,  "on  the  most  catholic  foundation!"  It 
is  curious  to  note  how  they  anticipated  "unmerciful 
rigor  and  persecution"  to  follow  the  introduction  of 
Diocesan  Bishops  into  the  colonies,  and  what  a  strip- 

1  Church  Documents,  Vol.  U.  p.  177. 


284  HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

ping  from  the  magistrates  of  all  just  civil  power  was 
to  take  place  immediately  after  their  arrival.  In  the 
excess  of  loyalty  to  the  home  Government,  they  pre- 
tended to  see  danger  of  another  kind,  even  separation 
and  independence,  if  this  offensive  measure  was  ac- 
complished. "Nothing,"  is  a  statement  in  one  of  the 
earliest  letters,  "seems  to  have  such  a  direct  tendency 
to  weaken  the  dependence  of  the  colonies  upon  Great 
Britain  and  to  separate  them  from  her;  an  event 
which  would  be  ruinous  and  destructive  to  both,  and 
which  we,  therefore,  pray  God  long  to  avert.  And  we 
have  abundant  reason  to  believe  that  such  would  be 
the  jealousies  and  uneasiness  of  all  other  denomina- 
tions of  Christians  among  us,  that  we  cannot  but 
tremble  at  the  prospect  of  the  dreadful  consequences 
that  could  not  be  prevented  from  taking  place  upon 
the  establishment  of  an  American  Episcopate.  We 
have  so  long  tasted  the  sweets  of  civil  and  rehgious 
liberty,  that  we  cannot  be  easily  prevailed  upon  to 
submit  to  a  yoke  of  bondage  which  neither  we  nor 
our  fathers  were  able  to  bear."  ^ 

The  object  of  writing  in  this  way  to  the  Committee 
of  Dissenters  in  London,  was  to  enlist  their  active 
efforts  on  the  side  of  their  brethren  in  this  country, 
and  to  have  them  use  what  little  influence  they  pos- 
sessed with  the  men  in  place  and  power  to  prevent 
the  estabhshment  of  Diocesan  Episcopacy  here.  "We 
now  stand  in  need,  if  ever,"  was  the  message  of  the 
Convention,  sent  over  in  the  autumn  of  1771,  "of  the 
assistance  of  all  our  friends,  to  use  their  utmost  skiU 
and  interest  to  avert  this  impending  blow  that  so 
surely  threatens  our  civil  and  religious  liberties,  and 

1  Minutes  of  Convention,  p.  23. 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  285 

which,  if  not  prevented,  must  again  inflame  all  our 
colonies,  that  have  so  lately  regained  the  blessings  of 
peace."  They  professed  not  to  be  opposed  to  Bishops 
having  simply  the  spiritual  oversight  of  the  members 
of  their  own  communion, — the  only  thing  which  had 
ever  been  asked  or  desired ;  but  they  seemed  to  think 
it  impossible  that  the  Episcopal  office  should  be 
clothed  in  this  character,  or  divested  of  the  i^ower  to 
encroach  upon  the  rights  of  other  denominations. 
"No  Act  of  Parliament,"  they  said  in  the  same  letter 
from  which  we  have  just  quoted,^  "can  secure  us  from 
the  tyranny  of  their  jurisdiction,  as  an  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment ma}',  and  no  doubt  will  be  repealed  at  the  im- 
portunate solicitations  of  the  Bishops  and  others;  nor 
can  we  have  any  security  against  being  obliged  in 
time  to  support  their  dignity,  and  to  -pay  taxes  to 
relieve  the  Society  in  paying  their  Missionaries;  and 
the  governors  of  our  several  colonies  must  either  be 
submissive  in  all  things  to  their  will  and  pleasure,  or 
be  harassed  and  persecuted  with  continual  complaints 
to  all  in  power  on  your  side  of  the  water.  In  a  word, 
we  think  Ecclesiastics  vested  with  such  powers  dan- 
gerous to  our  civil  and  religious  liberties ;  and  it  seems 
highly  probable  that  it  will  in  time  break  that  strong 
connection  which  now  happily  subsists  between  Great 
Britain  and  her  colonies,  who  are  never  like  to  shake 
off  their  dependence  on  the  mother-country  until  they 
have  Bishops  established  among  them." 

The  tone  of  these  letters  varied  slightly  according 
to  the  prejudices  of  the  writers,  the  temper  of  the 
Convention,  and  the  state  of  the  times;  but  in  none 
of  them  was  there  any  friendliness  manifested  to  the 

1  Minutes  of  Convention,  p.  34. 


286  HISTORY   OF    THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

Church  of  England.  An  accurate  and  toilsome  col- 
lection of  statistics,  relative  to  the  number  of  Epis- 
copalians in  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  and  their  pro- 
portion to  non-Episcopalians,  was  early  undertaken  by 
the  Rev.  Elizur  Goodrich  of  Durham,  a  Cono-reg-ational 
divine,  acting  by  appointment  of  the  Convention  of 
Delegates.  A  similar  thing  was  attempted  with  ref- 
erence to  other  provinces.  After  mentioning  this 
census  of  the  Episcopal  tribes,  in  the  letter  to  their 
London  friends,  of  1773,  they  added  these  mysterious 
words:  "We  beg  leave  also  to  inform  you  that  we 
are  collecting  the  state  of  religious  liberty  in  the  sev- 
eral colonies  on  this  continent,  and  its  progress  in 
each  of  them  from  their  first  settlement,  which  may 
be  capable  of  important  uses  in  the  grand  struggle 
we  or  posterity  may  be  called  to  make  in  this  glori- 
ous cause,  in  which  the  happiness  of  thousands  yet 
■unborn  is  so  deeply  interested. 

"Your  known  zeal  against  the  unjust  encroachments 
of  Episcopal  domination  supersedes  the  necessity  of 
our  repeating  our  requests  that  you  will  continue 
your  wonted  care  on  this  head."  At  one  time  they 
thought  of  sending  a  special  agent  to  London  to  pro- 
mote their  designs,  but  the  Committee  whom  they 
first  consulted  replied,  that  if  a  suitable  person  could 
be  found,  he  would  not  have  any  additional  influence 
with  the  Ministry;  "for,  whatever  he  might  at  any 
time  say,  they  would  look  upon  him  as  an  agent  for 
the  colonies  and  under  their  influence,  whereas  no 
such  bias  could  be  imputed  to  the  Committee." 

In  this  connection  we  recall  the  purport  of  a  paper 
laid  before  the  General  Association  of  Congregational 
ministers  in  Connecticut,  assembled  at  Stamford  in 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  287 

1773.  This  paper  appears  to  have  met  with  their 
approval;  and  the  following  extract,  if  sincerely  em- 
bracing the  Episcopal  Church,  is,  to  say  the  least,  not 
in  unison  Avith  the  spirit  of  the  elect  body  from  whose 
Minutes  we  have  quoted.  "We  have,  indeed,  a  re- 
ligious establishment;  but  it  is  of  such  a  kind,  and 
with  such  universal  toleration,  that  the  consciences 
of  other  sects  cannot  be  affected  or  wounded  by  it, 
while  every  one  is  at  perfect  liberty  to  worship  God 
in  such  way  as  is  most  agreeable  to  his  own  mind. 
Whatever  oppressive  measures  have  been  heretofore 
adopted,  we  recollect  with  regret  and  disapprobation. 
We  rejoice  that  these  have  ceased,  and  that  there  is 
such  freedom  of  religious  inquiry  and  worship,  that  no 
man  need  be  in  bondage.  We  desire  not  the  aid  of 
other  sects  to  maintain  our  churches;  and  while  we 
stand  fast  in  the  constitution  we  have  chosen,  and 
think  it  in  doctrine  and  discipline  most  agreeable  to 
the  Scripture,  the  unerring  standard  of  faith  and  wor- 
ship, we  Vv^ould  not  oppress  others,  nor  be  oppressed 
ourselves,  but  exercise  good-will  and  charity  to  our 
brethren  of  other  denominations,  w^th  fervent  prayers 
that  peace  and  holiness,  liberty,  truth,  and  purity,  may 
be  established  more  and  more  among  those  that  name 
the  name  of  Christ,  and  be  universally  diffused  among 
mankind."  ^ 

1  Kingsley,  Hist.  Dis.  p.  97. 


288         HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 


CHAPTER  XXIL 

ENUMERATION  OF  EPISCOPALIANS    IN  CONNECTICUT;  ITS   INFLU- 
ENCE; AND   THE  DEATH   OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

A.  D.  1772-1774. 

The  systematic  and  careful  enumeration  of  the  Epis- 
copalians, and  the  Convention  of  Delegates  from  the 
Synod  and  Congregational  Associations,  held  annually 
until  the  disturbed  state  of  public  affairs  prevented 
the  gatherings,  indicate  the  common  apprehensions 
of  the  time,  that  the  growth  of  the  Church  was  hos- 
tile to  the  sj^irit  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and 
favorable  to  the  ultimate  establishment  here  of  a 
"monarchical  government  with  a  legally  associated 
hierarchy."  In  reading  over  now  the  accounts  and 
proceedings  of  that  period,  one  cannot  but  regret 
that  so  many  mistakes  were  made,  and  that  there  was 
such  a  deplorable  misunderstanding  of  the  real  object 
sought  after  by  the  Missionaries  of  the  Venerable  So- 
ciety. 

The  estimate  of  Episcopalians  in  Connecticut  may 
be  found  printed  in  an  appendix  to  the  "Minutes  of 
Convention."  It  was  not  complete,  mauy  important 
towns  having  been  omitted  in  the  report,  such  as 
Stratford,  Fairfield,  New  London,  Norwich,  Middle- 
town,  Waterbury,  Woodbury,  and  New  Milford;  but, 
as  far  as  it  went,  it  gave  one  Episcopalian  to  twelve 
non-Episcopalians,  nearly;  or,  to  quote  the  words  of 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  289 

Mr.  Goodrich  in  closing  his  report,  September  5, 1774, 
it  "makes  the  Episcopahans  about  one  in  thirteen  of 
the  whole  number  of  inhabitants ;  and  probably  there 
would  be  no  great  difference  from  this  proportion  were 
the  account  of  all  the  towns  come  in,  which  I  hope 
soon  to  gain."^  Nowhere  in  the  colony  was  the 
Church  so  strong,  according  to  this  estimate,  as  in 
Fairfield  County,  where  it  embraced  about  one  third 
of  the  people;  and  at  Newtown  there  was  an  equal 
division,  the  Episcopalians  and  non-Episcopalians  being 
1084,  in  either  case.  New  Haven,  which  then  in- 
cluded within  its  territorial  limits  West  Haven,  East 
Haven,  North  Haven,  Hamden,  and  a  part  of  Wood- 
bridge,  came  next  to  Newtown,  and  the  number  of 
Episcopalians  in  it  was  reckoned  to  be  942  at  that 
date. 

The  public  controversy  concerning  an  American 
Episcopate,  described  in  a  former  chapter,  was  some- 
thing to  be  met  and  managed  upon  its  own  merits; 
but  here  was  a  secret  influence  in  opposition  to  the 
Church,  which  was  felt  without  being  reached.  The 
strong  representations  that  went  over  to  London  from 
this  body,  based  on  the  statistics  which  were  collected 
and  on  inquiries  into  the  progress  of  civil  and  relig- 
ious liberty  in  the  colonies,  had  the  effect,  with 
other  things,  to  delay  action  until  "the  bigoted  Epis- 
copalians," as  they  were  termed,  "on  this  side  the 
water,"  were  compelled  by  the  events  of  the  Revolu- 
tion to  suspend  entirely  their  efforts.  One  movement, 
as  calculated  to  overcome  all  obstacles,  was  suggested 
to  the  Missionaries  by  their  friends  in  England,  and 
that  was  to  procure   the  request  of  the  colonial  as- 

1  r.  62. 

19 


290  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

semblies  for  the  introduction  of  Bishops  into  this  coun- 
try. Good  men  named  this  plan  to  leading  church- 
men in  Connecticut.  Lowth,  then  Bishop  of  Oxford, 
writing  to  Johnson,  the  statesman,  in  May  1773,  and 
speaking  of  the  American  Episcopate,  said:  "You 
may  be  assured  that  it  is  not  in  our  power  to  do 
anything  in  it.  Matters  must  be  prepared  on  your 
side.  Nothing  less  than  a  strong  and  ^ye\\  supported 
application  from  your  colonies  in  general,  or  at  least 
from  the  principal  colonies,  will  have  any  effect."^ 
The  son  of  Bishop  Berkeley,  who  inherited  the  genius 
and  the  noble  spirit  of  his  honored  father,  and  was, 
therefore,  deemed  fit  to  wear  the  mitre  in  a  land 
which  had  been  blessed  with  the  paternal  presence 
and  benefactions,  wrote  to  the  same  gentleman,  in  a 
like  strain,  some  months  earlier,  and  "thinking  aloud 
on  the  subject,"  confessed  to  him  that  he  should  re- 
joice to  devote  his  life  to  the  Episcopal  interest  in 
America.  "Seriously,"  said  he,  "turn  it  over  in  your 
mind,  whether  an  application  could  not  be  obtained 
from  some  assembly  in  your  new  world  for  an  Amer- 
ican Bishop, — a  Bishop  who  by  law  should  be  incapa- 
citated from  accepting  a  Bishopric  in  England  or  Ire- 
land." And  this  is  a  part  of  the  answer  which  was 
returned:  "Do  not,  my  dear  friend,  lose  sight  of  the 
American  mitre  which  you  mention  to  me,  but  realize 
it,  if  it  be  possible.  You  cannot  conceive  how  much 
good  you  would  be  able  to  do  in  this  country  in  that 
situation.  I  do  not  think  it  probable  that  any  of  our 
assemblies  could  be  induced  to  ask  such  a  thing. 
They  have  all  been  industriously  taught  to  apprehend 
the  most  terrible   evils  from  such  a  measure.     But 

1  Johnson  MSS. 


^  IN  CONNECTICUT.  291 

why  should  Government  wait  to  be  asked  for  a  thing 
so  just  and  reasonable  in  itself,  so  evidently  benefi- 
cial for  them?"^  Johnson  peinied  a  reply  to  the 
Bishop  of  Oxford,  couched  in  still  stronger  terms, 
and,  for  the  present,  gave  up  with  sorrow  all  hopes 
of  attaining  the  object  of  his  wishes,  because  he  was 
persuaded  that  if  the  plan  depended  upon  an  official 
application  from  the  colonies  in  general,  or  any  one 
in  particular,  it  would  be  long  mdeed  before  it  would 
take  effect. 

We  have  seen  the  spirit  which  animated  the  Con- 
vention of  Delegates  in  reference  to  this  matter;  and 
without  questioning  now  the  propriety  and  the  neces- 
sity of  the  course  which  led  to  American  indepen- 
dence, we  must  acknowledge  that  Johnson  spoke  truly 
when  he  said  that  the  "colonies  have  all  been  taught 
to  apprehend  the  most  terrible  evils"  from  the  mtro- 
duction  of  Bishops  into  this  country.  The  work  of 
numbering  the  Episcopalians,  so  extensively  and  sys- 
tematically carried  on,  appears  to  have  had  its  influ- 
ence, if  not  in  expediting,  at  least  in  aggravating  the 
war  of  the  Revolution,  and  among  the  causes  of  that 
war  was  the  fear  of  a  Church  hierarchy.  The  elder 
Adams  bore  testimony  to  this,  when,  in  1815,  he  wrote: 
"The  apprehension  of  Episcopacy  contributed,  fifty 
years  ago,  as  much  as  any  other  cause,  to  arouse  the 
attention,  not  only  of  the  inquiring  mind,  but  of  the 
common  people,  and  urge  them  to  close  thinking  on 
the  constitutional  authority  of  Parliament  over  the 
colonies.  This,  nevertheless,  was  a  fact  as  certain  as 
any  in  the  history  of  North  America." 

But  the  question  of  the  Episcopate  has  received 

1  Johnson  MSS. 


292  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

> 

ample  consideration,  and  both  sides  of  the  struggle 
have  been  sufficiently,  and  we  trust  fairly,  reviewed. 
Let  us  now  resume  our  inquiries  into  the  labors  of 
the  Missionaries,  and  the  success  of  their  pastoral  care. 
Hubbard  indicated  a  better  feeling  towards  the  Church 
in  New  Haven  when  he  thus  wrote  to  the  Society,  in 
April,  1772:  "I  am  pleased  and  happy  in  my  situa- 
tion; kindly  treated  and  respected  by  my  own  people 
and  the  dissenters  in  this  growing  and  populous  town, 
many  of  wdiom  occasionally  attend  our  service  on 
Sundays;  and  I  have  the  happiness  to  see  the  great- 
est unanimity  reigning  amongst  us  and  the  denomi- 
nations with  whom  we  live.  My  congregation,  in 
something  less  than  five  years,  has  increased  one  third 
in  number.  The  souls,  white  and  black,  belonscins' 
to  the  Church  in  New  Haven,  are  503;  and  in  my 
church  at  West  Haven  there  are  220."  Connecticut 
had  already  been  sending  forth  emigrants  into  the 
new  settlements,  to  such  an  extent  as  to  retard  the 
natural  growth  of  the  Church  in  some  parts  of  the 
colony;  and  but  for  frequent  accessions  from  the  de- 
nominations, a  few  23arishes  would  have  been  nearly 
ruined  in  this  way.  Churchmen  from  the  Missions 
of  Beach  and  Viets,  Andrews  and  Mansfield,  pene- 
trated into  the  uncultivated  regions  of  Massachusetts, 
Vermont,  and  New  Hampshire,  and  were  favored  at 
different  times  with  visits  from  their  former  pastors. 
They  welcomed  with  grateful  hearts  these  occasional 
ministrations,  and  looked  to  them  for  comfort  in  their 
spiritual  need.  Those  in  some  of  the  older  townships 
had  long  turned  in  this  direction  for  counsel  and 
succor;  and  the  region  far  up  the  valley  of  the  Housa- 
tonic  had  been,  from  the  time  of  Thomas  Davies,  more 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  293 

than  ten  years,  under  the  oversight  of  the  Connecti- 
cut clergy.  Gideon  Bostwick,  a  native  of  New  Mil- 
ford,  and  a  graduate  of  Yale  College  in  1762,  pro- 
ceeded to  England  for  ordination  when  of  suitable 
age,  and  became,  on  his  return  in  1770,  the  Missionary 
of  the  Venerable  Society  in  Great  Barrington,  having 
read  prayers  in  that  place  while  a  candidate  for  Holy 
Orders. 

But  as  the  Board  had  decided  not  to  establish  any 
new  Missions  at  this  period,  the  utmost  which  the 
people  could  expect  to  see  accomplished  was  the  sup- 
ply of  places  vacated  by  death  or  removal. 

James  Nichols,  born  in  Waterbur}",  and  graduated 
at  Yale  College  in  1771,  was,  three  years  later,  the 
minister  of  the  Church  of  England  in  Northbury  and 
New  Cambridge,  now  Pljanouth  and  Bristol.  He  was 
the  last  of  those  who  went  from  Connecticut  on  the 
perilous  and  expensive  vo3'^age  across  the  ocean  for 
Holy  Orders.  The  troubles  of  the  country  were 
thickening,  and  the  candidates  prudently  preferred 
to  wait. 

Public  affairs  began  to  wear  a  melancholy  aspect, 
and  the  deepest  anxiety  for  the  welfare  of  the  Church 
pervaded  the  breasts  of  her  members.  To  add  to 
their  sorrow,  one  great  and  guiding  light,  placed  aloft 
in  the  providence  of  God  to  conduct  their  move- 
ments, was  about  this  time  stricken  from  its  eminent 
position.  The  death  of  the  Rev.  Solomon  Palmer, 
at  Litchfield,  on  the  2d  of  November,  1771,  was  fol- 
lowed, two  months  afterwards,  by  that  of  "the  learned, 
pious,  and  most  benevolent  Dr.  Johnson  of  Stratford." 
Thus  the  senior  Missionary  in  the  colony,  and  the 
^argest  participant  in  the  early  struggles  of  the  Church 


294  HISTORY  OF   THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

here,  passed  to  his  glorious  reward  just  as  the  clouds 
of  the  Kevolution  were  gathering  and  rollmg  up  in 
thicker  folds.  Perhaps  it  was  providentially  ordered 
that  he  who  saw  so  much  of  the  former  trials  should 
be  spared,  in  his  declining  age,  the  bitterness  of  those 
which  were  npw  approaching.  He  had  lived  to  wel- 
come the  return  to  this  country  of  his  long  absent 
son,^  and  to  hear  him  describe  the  varied  events  of 
his  sojourn  in  the  Old  World,  and  his  intercourse  with 
leading  statesmen  and  heads  of  English  nobility,  al- 
ready devising  schemes  to  irritate  and  oppress  the 
American  provinces.  How  must  his  spirit,  still  fresh 
and  buoyant,  have  been  elated  as  he  listened  to  his 
beloved  son  repeating  his  frequent  interviews  with 
Seeker  and  Sherlock  and  Lowth,  men  whom  his  eyes 
had  never  beholden,  but  who  had  come  near  to  him 
in  the  living  impress  of  their  characters,  through  the 
medium  of  an  extended  correspondence, — a  corre- 
spondence upon  matters  intimately  affecting  the  co- 
lonial Church,  and  the  vindication  of  her  Apostolic 

1  The  return  of  Dr.  William  Samuel  Johnson  was  welcomed  also  by  his 
friends  and  neighbors.  He  consented,  at  their  req'uest,  to  a  public  re- 
ception ;  and  on  the  day  designated,  people  from  hill-side  and  shore,  and 
all  the  region  round  about,  all  ages  and  all  conditions,  flocked  to  his  man- 
sion in  Stratford.  The  wide  green  in  front  of  it  was  filled  with  horses 
and  lumbering  vehicles,  the  common  modes  of  conveyance  in  those  times, 
and  the  apartments  of  his  dwelling  were  crowded  with  an  unusual  as- 
semblage, eager  to  pay  their  respects  to  the  honored  agent  of  Connecticut, 
and  to  learn  from  his  own  lips  the  chief  events  of  his  prolonged  stay  in 
England.  His  full  court-dress,  with  deep  Mechlin  lace  ruffles  upon  his 
shirt-frills  and  falling  over  his  hands ;  his  long,  slender  dress-sword  swing- 
ing loose  at  his  side  ;  his  powdered  locks  flowing  gracefully,  and  his  charm- 
ing intonations  of  voice  as  he  stood  in  his  spacious  parlor  and  proceeded 
to  describe  the  scenes  through  which  he  had  passed,  all  combined  —  ac- 
cording to  the  account  from  an  eye-witness  —  to  give  interest  to  the  occa- 
sion, and  to  impress  the  gathered  multitude  with  the  dignity  of  his  character 
and  the  importance  of  his  mission. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  295 

Order!  Archbishop  Seeker  always  began  his  letters 
to  him  with  the  gentle  compellation  "Good  Dr.  John- 
son," and  closed  them  affectionately  with  "  Your  loving 
brother."  The  acceptable  assistance  of  Mr.  Kneeland, 
who  assumed  the  outward  and  laborious  duties  of  the 
parish,  had  made  him  easy  in  his  retirement  and 
decline,  but  his  active  mind  yet  worked  amid  his 
bodily  infirmities,  and  apj)arently  all  the  more  so,  as 
he  saw  the  distance  between  earth  and  "the  mark  for 
the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus" 
fast  lessening.  Slightly  indisposed  on  the  morning 
of  Epiphany,  1772,  a  bright  and  glorious  morning,  he 
was  conversing  with  his  family  respecting  his  own 
death,  and  calmly  expressing  the  conviction  that  his 
strength  was  about  to  fail,  and  that  he  was  soon,  to 
quote  his  own  words,  "going  home."  One  friend,  at 
that  moment,  whom  he  had  greatly  loved,  the  sainted 
Berkeley,  rose  upon  his  fading  vision,  and  he  sighed 
for  the  tranquillity  of  his  departure,  and  humbly  de- 
sired that  his  own  impending  change  might  be  like 
his.  Heaven  vouchsafed  to  grant  his  wish,  for  scarcely 
had  he  given  utterance  to  it,  when,  like  the  good 
Bishop,  he  instantaneously  expired  in  his  chair,  Avith- 
out  a  groan  or  the  least  convulsion. 

His  character  has  been  woven  into  the  thread  of 
the  previous  chapters,  but  an  eventful  and  consistent 
ministry  in  the  Church  of  England  of  nearl}^  half  a 
century  could  not  be  thus  wound  up  without  great 
lamentation  on  the  part  of  his  brethren.  They  buried 
him  with  all  the  respect  due  to  his  memory,  and  one 
of  their  number,  "the  worthy  Mr.  Leaming,"  preached 
A  funeral  sermon,  though  that  office  had  been  assigned 
to  his  particular  friend  at  Newtown,  the  Rev.  Mr. 


296  HISTORY  OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH    ' 

Beach.  Illness  prevented  him  from  performing  it, 
but  the  discourse  which  he  had  prepared  was  after- 
wards delivered  in  the  church  at  Stratford  and  pub- 
hshcd  by  request  of  the  congregation.  Dr.  Johnson 
left  an  Autobiographj^,  which,  with  other  manuscripts 
and  letters,  were  put  into  the  hands  of  Dr.  Chandler 
of  Elizabethtown,  who  had  sustained  confidential  re- 
lations to  him,  and  was  therefore  a  very  suitable  per- 
son to  compile  his  Life.  He  completed  his  task  early 
in  the  summer  of  1774,  and  submitted  it  to  the  inspec- 
tion and  judgment  of  his  friends;  but  there  were  good 
reasons  why  the  publication  was  withholden  at  that 
time.  Mr.  Beach,  whose  opinion  was  sought  by  the 
son,  without  denying  that  a  time  might  come  when  it 
could  be  published  to  advantage,  as  showing  the  origin 
and  growth  of  the  Church  in  Connecticut,  said:  "Dr. 
Chandler  has  omitted  some  things  which  I  should 
have  thought  to  have  been  as  important  as  some 
others  which  he  has  related.  As  to  the  good  ends 
to  be  obtained  by  the  publication,  may  they  not  be 
obtained  by  his  works  published  in  his  lifetime?  Is 
not  overdoing,  sometimes  undoing  ?  However,  of  this 
we  are  sure,  his  character  now  stands,  and  his  mem- 
ory is  like  to  remain  quite  unblemished,  as  well  as 
amiable  and  exalted.  But  if  ill-natured  Maijhews  un- 
dertake to  fling  dirt,  (and  they  are  not  all  dead,)  being 
excited  by  our  excess,  in  that  case  I  should  fear  that 
the  love  and  labor  of  his  friends  could  not  perfectly 
wipe  off  all,  so  as  to  leave  it  as  clear  and  brilliant  as 
now  it  is.  Why  should  we  run  the  venture  without 
a  necessity?  ...  Dr.  Hodges,  in  his  oration,  represents 
Dr.  Johnson  as  employed  in  converting  Indos  Occiden- 
tales.     I  am  not  sure  if  our  adversaries  will  not  tran.s- 


IN    CONNECTICUT.  297 

late  it  the  Western  Indians-,  and  eagerly  catch  at  it,  as 
a  full  proof  that  we  cheat  the  nation,  and  by  lies 
obtain  donations."^ 

The  original  manuscript  of  Dr.  Chandler  fell  at 
length  into  the  hands  of  Bishop  Hobart,  his  son-in- 
law,  who  sent  it  to  the  press  more  than  thirty  years 
after  its  preparation,  without  appearing  to  know  any- 
thing of  this  secret  history. 

Mr.  Kneeland  succeeded  to  the  Mission  in  Stratford, 
with  all  the  emoluments  of  his  venerable  predecessor. 
The  Church-wardens  and  others,  in  requesting  his  ap- 
pointment, gave  these  reasons  for  claiming  a  continu- 
ance of  the  Society's  bounty:  "As  Stratford  is  sit- 
uate upon  the  great  road  from  Boston  to  New  York, 
Mr.  Kneeland  must  inevitably  be  at  a  greater  expense 
than  any  Missionary  in  the  interior  towns;  so  that 
from  the  decline  of  trade,  the  death  and  failure  of 
several  of  our  principal  members,  from  the  increasing 
price  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  the  scarcity  of  money, 
and  the  extraordinary  expenses  a  Missionary  must  be 
here  at,  we  may  truly  say  we  have  not  needed  the 
assistance  of  the  Venerable  Society  more  for  fifteen 
years  past  than  we  do  at  present.  .  .  .  We  are  now 
endeavoring  to  raise  money  to  enlarge  the  glebe,  but, 
for  the  reasons  before  mentioned,  fear  we  shall  meet 
with  but  little  success;  however,  our  best  endeavors 
shall  not  be  wanting  to  complete  the  same." 

Mr.  Beach,  next  to  Dr.  Johnson,  was  the  ablest  de- 
fender of  the  Church  in  the  Colony  of  Connecticut. 
In  some  respects  he  rose  above  him,  and  was  scarcely 
inferior  to  him  in  streno-th  of  intellect,  in  knowledo;e  of 
the  Church,  and  m  the  toils  and  trials  of  his  vocation. 

1  Johnson  MSS. 


298  HISTORY  OF  THE   EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

He  kept  his  eye  upon  every  rood  of  ground  where 
the  seed  had  been  sown,  and,  as  fearless  as  faultless, 
travelled  by  night  and  by  day,  amid  storms  and  snow- 
drifts, and  across  deep  and  rushing  streams,  to  preach 
the  word,  to  visit  and  comfort  the  sick,  and  to  bury 
the  dead.  He  still  lingered  at  the  post  where  he  had 
been  in  the  employment  of  the  Society  now  forty 
years;  and,  giving  a  brief  account.  May  5,  1772,  of  the 
manner  in  which  he  had  spent  his  time  and  improved 
the  charity  of  his  benefactors,  said:  "Every  Sunday 
I  have  performed  divine  service,  and  preached  twice 
at  Newtown  and  Redding,  alternately.  And  in  these 
forty  years  I  have  lost  only  two  Sundays  through 
sickness,  although  in  all  that  time  I  have  been  af- 
flicted with  a  constant  colic,  which  has  not  allowed 
me  one  day's  ease  or  freedom  from  pain.  The  dis- 
tance between  the  churches  at  Newtown  and  Redding 
is  between  eight  and  nine  miles,  and  no  very  good 
road,  yet  have  I  never  failed  one  time  to  attend  each 
place  according  to  custom,  through  the  badness  of 
the  weather,  but  have  rode  it  in  the  severest  rains 
and  snow-storms,  even  when  there  has  been  no  track, 
and  my  horse  near  miring  down  in  the  snow-banks; 
which  has  had  this  good  effect  on  my  parishioners, 
that  they  are  ashamed  to  stay  from  church  on  account 
of  bad  weather,  so  that  they  are  remarkably  forward 
to  attend  public  worship.  As  to  my  labors  without 
my  parish,  I  have  formerly  performed  divine  service 
in  many  towns  where  the  Common  Prayer  had  never 
been  heard,  nor  the  Holy  Scrij^tures  read  in  public, 
and  where  now  are  flourishing  congregations  of  the 
Church  of  England;  and  in  some  places  where  there 
never  had  been  any  public  worship  at  all,  nor  any  ser- 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  299 

mon  preached  by  any  preacher  of  any  denomination." 
He  followed  the  emigrants  from  his  parishes  into  the 
northern  provinces,  as  he  found  it  convenient,  until 
age  and  the  public  disturbances  confined  him  to  the 
limits  of  his  own  cure. 

These  disturbances  had  become  so  great  in  1774, 
that  fears  began  to  prevail  above  hopes,  and  the 
terrors  of  civil  war  to  be  seen  in  the  distance.  Even 
as  early  as  August  in  that  year,  Berkeley,  of  Can- 
terbury, wrote  to  Dr.  William  S.  Johnson  thus:  "I 
have  suffered  greatly  in  my  own  mind  on  American 
affairs.  I  see  nothing  but  clouds  in  the  American 
sky,  and  I  feel  unfeignedly  for  that  country  to  which 
I  bear  an  hereditary  love."^  In  the  same  letter  he 
said:  "The  clause  in  one  of  the  late  American  Bills, 
subjecting  persons  accused  of  crimes  alleged  to  be  com- 
mitted in  America,  to  a  removal  for  trial  to  England 
at  the  tvill  of  the  Governor,  is  extremely  odious  to  the 
unprejudiced  part  of  the  people  of  the  island.  If  I  was 
retained  at  present  as  an  American  advocate,  I  would 
dwell  very  much  on  that  arUtrary  clause.  I  do  sup- 
pose that  it  is  resolved  to  support  the  claim  of  power 
to  raise  a  revenue  in  America,  and  I  do  suppose  that 
any  long  continued  and  consistent  abstinence  from 
importation  would  drive  the  ministry  to  their  wits' 
end.  If  the  Americans  have  public  virtue  enough 
to  carry  this  scheme  into  execution,  they  may  carry 
several  material  points;  but  I  verily  believe  that  the, 
servants  of  Government  judge  rightly  as  to  the  im- 
probability of  such  an  event." 

A  few  days  before  the  opening  of  the  drama  in  Lex- 
ington, where  the  first  British  blood  was  shed  in  armed 

1  Johnson  MSS. 


300  HISTORY   OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

resistance  to  the  King's  troops,  Dibblee  wrote  to  the 
Society  these  dismal  words, — words  as  full  of  truth  as 
they  were  of  fear  and  feeling:  "We  view  with  the  deep- 
est anxiety,  affliction,  and  concern  the  great  dangers 
we  are  in,  by  reason  of  our  unhappy  divisions,  and 
the  amazing  height  to  which  the  unfortunate  disputes 
between  Great  Britain  and  these  remote  provinces 
have  arisen,  and  the  baneful  influence  they  have  upon 
the  interest  of  true  religion,  and  the  wellbeing  of  the 
Church.  Our  duty,  as  ministers  of  religion,  is  now  at- 
tended with  peculiar  difficulty:  faithfully  to  discharge 
the  duties  of  our  office,  and  yet  carefully  to  avoid 
taking  any  part  in  these  political  disputes;  as  I  trust 
my  brethren  in  this  colony  have  done  as  much  as 
possible,  notwithstanding  any  representations  to  our 
prejudice  to  the  contrary.  We  can  only  pray  Al- 
mighty God,  in  compassion  to  our  Church  and  nation, 
and  the  wellbeing  of  these  provinces  in  particular, 
to  avert  these  terrible  calamities  that  are  the  natural 
result  of  such  an  unhappy  contest  vv'ith  our  parent 
State,  to  save  us  from  the  horrors  of  a  civil  war,  and 
remove  all  groundless  fears  and  jealousies,  and  what- 
soever else  may  hinder  us  from  godly  union  and 
concord."  . 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  301 


CHAPTER  XXIIL 

THE  WAR  OF  THE  REVOLUTION,  AND  THE  ADHERENCE  OF  THE 
CLERGY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  ENGLAND  TO  THE  CAUSE  OF 
THE   CROWN. 

A.    D.    1774-1776. 

No  sooner  had  the  war  of  the  Revolution  commenced 
than  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  with  their 
flocks,  especially  in  the  northern  provinces,  became 
the  objects  of  public  suspicion  and  vigilance.  Their 
ministerial  fidelity,  and  the  part  which  they  had  borne 
in  the  struggle  to  secure  an  American  Episcopate,  left 
no  room  to  doubt  that  they  w^ould  be  fearless  in  avow- 
ing and  vindicating  what  they  conceived  to  be  not 
only  the  essential  rights  of  the  British  Crown,  but  the 
essential  interests  of  their  venerated  communion.  The 
duty  which  they  owed  to  the  Sovereign,  for  whom 
they  had  so  long  prayed,  could  not,  therefore,  be 
readily  displaced  by  the  love  of  liberty,  nor  by  sym- 
pathy with  the  policy  of  the  colonial  assemblies  in 
resisting  the  oppressive  measures  of  the  home  Govern- 
ment. They  would  gladly  have  quenched  the  spark 
that  kindled  the  conflagration.  Some  of  them,  in 
former  years,  had  warned  their  friends  on  the  other 
side,  and  gently  remonstrated  with  them  against  the 
tendency  of  Parliamentary  legislation;  but  when  the 
shock  of  open  revolt  came,  they  espoused,  for  the  most 
part,  the  cause  of  the  mother-country,  and  thereby 
showed  themselves  loyal  subjects  of  the  King,  at  the 


302  HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

same  time  that  they  conscientiously  reverenced  the 
teachings  of  the  Enghsh  Church.  Used  to  misrep- 
resentation and  trial,  they  were  not  privileged  to 
escape  them  in  this  emergency,  and  the  direful  evils 
which  they  had  too  clearly  apprehended  soon  began 
to  be  realized.  The  Missionary  at  Westchester,  N.  Y., 
Samuel  Seabury,  afterwards  the  first  Bishop  of  Con- 
necticut, writing  to  the  Society,  May  30th,  1775, 
said:  "We  are  here  in  a  very  alarming  situation.  Dr. 
Cooper  and  Dr.  Chandler  have  been  obliged  to  quit 
this  community,  and  sailed  for  England  last  week. 
I  have  been  obliged  to  retire  a  few  days  from  the 
threatened  vengeance  of  the  New-England  people  who 
lately  broke  into  this  province.  But  I  hope  I  shall 
be  able  to  keep  my  station.  The  charge  against  the 
clergy  here  is  a  very  extraordinary  one, — that  they 
have,  in  conjunction  with  the  Society  and  the  British 
Ministry,  laid  a  plan  for  enslaving  America.  I  do 
not  think  that  those  people  who  raised  this  calumny 
believe  one  syllable  of  it;  but  they  intend  it  as  an 
engine  to  turn  the  popular  fury  upon  the  Church, 
which,  should  the  violent  schemes  of  some  of  our 
eastern  neighbors  succeed,  will  probably  fall  a  sac- 
rifice to  the  persecuting  spirit  of  Independency." 

Towards  the  end  of  the  same  year,  the  author  of 
this  letter  was  seized  in  Westchester  by  a  company  of 
"disaffected  people  in  arms  from  Connecticut,"  and 
carried  to  New  Haven,  where  he  was  kept  under  a 
military  guard  until  two  days  before  Christmas.  The 
General  Assembly  of  the  colony  was  then  in  session 
at  New  Haven,  by  special  order  of  Governor  Trum- 
bull; and  though  not  allowed  to  write  freely  to  his 
wife,  whom  he  had  left  behind  with  six  children,  yet 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  303 

he  was  indulged  in  the  privilege  of  drawing  up  a 
memorial  to  the  Honorable  Assembly,  setting  forth 
the  personal  inconveniences  and  injuries  to  which  his 
confinement  subjected  him,  and  asking  "for  relief  from 
the  heavy  hand  of  oppression  and  tyranny."  After 
stating  that  on  Wednesday,  the  22d  day  of  Novem- 
ber, he  "was  seized  at  a  house  in  Westchester,  where 
he  taught  a  Grammar  School,"  he  proceeded  in  his 
memorial  to  describe  the  manner  of  his  introduction 
into  New  Haven:  That  on  the  Monday  following  his 
seizure,  in  company  with  two  suspected  gentlemen 
from  his  o^vn  neio-liborhood,  he  "was  brouo'ht  to  this 
town  and  carried  in  triumph  through  a  great  part  of 
it,  accompanied  by  a  large  number  of  men  on  horse- 
back and  in  carriages,  chiefly  armed.  That  the  Avhole 
company  arranged  themselves  before  the  house  of  Cap- 
tain Sears.  That,  after  firing  two  cannon  and  huzzaing, 
your  memoriaUst  was  sent  under  a  guard  of  four  or 
live  men  to  the  house  of  Mrs.  Lyman,  where  he  has 
ever  since  been  kept  under  guard.  That  during  tliis 
time  3'our  memorialist  hath  been  prevented  from  en- 
joying a  free  intercourse  with  his  friends ;  forbidden  to 
visit  some  of  them,  though  in  company  with  his  guard ; 
prohibited  from  reading  prayers  in  the  church,  and 
performing  any  part  of  divine  service,  though  invited 
by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hubbard  so  to  do;  interdicted  the 
use  of  pen,  ink,  and  paper,  except  for  the  purpose  of 
writing  to  his  family,  and  then  it  was  required  that 
his  letters  should  be  examined  and  licensed  before  they 
were  sent  off." 

The  explicit  charges  against  him  were,  that  he  had 
entered  into  a  combination  with  six  or  seven  others 
to  apprehend  Capt.  Sears,  as  he  was  passing  through 


304         HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

the  County  of  Westchester,  and  to  carry  hhn  on  board 
a  man-of-war;  that  he  had  signed  a  Protest,  at  a  public 
meeting  in  White  Plains,  against  the  proceedings  of 
the  Continental  Congress;  that  he  had  neglected  to 
open  his  church  on  the  day  of  the  Continental  Fast, 
and  hud  written  pamphlets  and  papers  against  the 
liberties  of  America. 

Of  the  first  and  last  charges  he  avowed  his  inno- 
cence, and  stood  ready  to  vindicate  it  as  soon  as  he 
should  be  restored  to  his  liberty  in  the  Province  of 
New  York,  to  which  alone,  under  the  circumstances, 
he  felt  himself  to  be  amenable.  He  considered  it  "a 
high  infringement  of  the  liberty  for  which  the  virtu- 
ous sons  of  America  were  then  nobly  struggling,  to 
be  carried  by  force  out  of  one  colony  into  another 
for  the  sake  either  of  trial  or  imprisonment."  As  to 
the  second  charge,  he  admitted  that  he  was  one  of 
more  than  three  hundred  persons,  who,  eight  months 
before,  had  affixed  their  signatures  to  the  Protest, 
not,  however,  with  any  thought  of  acting  against  the 
liberties  of  America,  but  rather  "to  support  the  meas- 
ures of  the  Representatives  of  the  people,  measures 
which  he  then  hoped  and  expected  would  have  had  a 
good  effect"  in  operating  a  change  of  policy  by  the 
British  Government  in  reference  to  the  welfxre  of  the 
colonies.  His  neglect  to  open  his  church  on  the  day 
of  the  Continental  Fast  arose  from  not  receiving  any 
notification  of  the  appointment;  and  on  the  whole,  he 
was  quite  sure  that  "nothing  could  be  laid  to  his 
charge  so  repugnant  to  the  regulations  of  the  Con- 
gress as  the  conduct  of  the  people,  who,  in  an  arbi- 
trary and  hostile  manner,  forced  him  from  his  house, 
and  had  kept  him  now  four  weeks  a  prisoner,  without 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  305 

any  means  or  prospect  of  relief."  He  asked  the  privi- 
lege of  appearing  before  tlie  Assembly  to  answer  for 
himself,  or  by  his  counsel.  The  President  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Congress  of  New  York  had  previously  ad- 
dressed Governor  Trumbull,  and  demanded  "his  im- 
mediate discharge";  and  both  this  letter  and  the 
Memorial  were  placed  for  consideration  in  the  hands 
of  a  Committee,  of  which  Dr.  William  Samuel  John- 
son, of  Stratford,  was  the  chairman.  They  reported 
in  favor  of  granting  the  prayer  of  the  petitioner;  and 
though  the  question  upon  accepting  the  report  was 
decided  by  the  Lower  House  in  the  negative,  Mr. 
Seabury  was  soon  after  released,  and  returning  to  his 
family,  on  the  2d  day  of  January,  found  that  his  parish 
and  private  affairs  had  suffered  in  his  absence,  and 
that  all  his  papers  had  been  examined  and  thrown 
into  confusion. 

But  the  Revolution  assumed  larger  proportions,  and 
he  showed  himself  by  his  subsequent  acts  a  most 
thorough  loj-alist;  or,  to  use  the  words  of  the  New 
York  Committee  of  Safety,  "notoriously  disaffected 
to  the  American  cause,"  which  brought  on  him  fresh 
persecutions  and  severer  trials.  Unable  to  stem  the 
popular  torrent,  he  availed  himself  of  the  temporary 
withdrawal  of  the  American  forces  from  Westchester 
to  escape  to  Long  Island;  and  when  they  returned, 
they  burned  the  j)ews  in  his  church,  converted  it  into 
a  hospital,  quartered  the  cavalry  in  his  house,  and 
consumed  all  the  products  of  his  farm.  After  this  he 
was  in  New  York  and  its  vicinity,  with  his  family, 
under  the  protection  of  the  British  arms,  duiing  the 
continuance  of  the  war,  and  pursued  the  practice  of 
medicine,  a  profession  to  which  he  had  been  educated 

20 


306  HISTORY  OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

in  Scotland,  and  which,  h*ke  several  of  his  contem- 
poraries, he  joined,  in  a  limited  degree,  to  his  clerical 
duties.  He  was  appointed  in  February,  1778,  chap- 
lain of  the  Loyal  American  Regiment,  commanded  by 
Colonel  Fanning,  and  delivered  a  sermon  before  the 
troops  in  camp  at  Kingsbridge,  founded  on  the  text, 
"Fear  God,  honor  the  King,"  which,  by  the  request  of 
Governor  Tryon,  was  published. 

Including  Mr.  Bostwick  of  Great  Barrington,  there 
was  just  a  score  of  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land in  Connecticut,  with  twice  that  number  of  Epis- 
copal churches,  at  the  outbreak  of  hostilities ;  and  these, 
with  two  or  three  exceptions,  were  natives  of  the 
colony,  and  knew  all  the  prejudices,  as  they  had 
shared  all  the  hatred  and  uncharitableness,  of  the 
standing  order.  The  Missionary  at  Hebron,  Samuel 
Peters,  was  without  doubt  the  most  obnoxious  of 
these  clergymen,  and  so  early  as  the  summer  of  1774. 
his  imprudent  conduct  and  intense  loyalty  had  in- 
volved him  in  serious  trouble.  He  was  charged  with 
communicating  intemperate  articles  to  the  newspapers 
for  publication,  and  with  making  false  representations 
to  his  friends  in  England.  A  mob  of  about  three 
hundred  persons  assembled  at  his  house  in  August  of 
that  year,  and  again  in  the  ensuing  month,  and  made 
known  their  determination  to  obtain  from  him  satis- 
faction and  an  acknowledgment  of  his  errors.  He 
met  them,  arrayed  in  his  official  robes  for  protection; 
but  the  exasperated  mob  had  as  little  respect  for  these 
as  for  the  wearer,  and  seizing  him  violently,  to  the 
damage  of  his  garments,  they  carried  him  to  the 
Meeting-house  Green,  where  he  was  forced  to  read  a 
confession  which  had  been  previously  prepared  for 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  307 

him,  and  with  this  offering  their  lawless  patriotism, 
was  satisfied,  and  he  was  set  at  liberty.  But  after 
such  indignities  he  felt  that  he  could  no  longer  re- 
main in  comfort  with  his  old  friends  and  neighbors, 
and  he  left  his  home  for  Boston,  from  whence  he 
wrote,  "in  high  spirits,"  a  letter  to  his  mother,  which 
was  intercepted,  and  which  contained  this  unpleasant 
information  for  his  enemies:  "Six  regiments  are  now 
coming  from  England,  and  sundry  men-of-war;  so 
soon  as  they  come,  hanging  work  will  go  on,  and  de- 
struction wdll  first  attend  the  sea-port  towns;  the 
lintel  sprinkled,  and  the  side-posts,  will  preserve  the 
faithful."  A  few  days  later,  some  time  in  October, 
he  sailed  for  England,  where  he  retaliated  upon  his 
countrymen  with  his  pen ;  but  his  writings  would  have 
been  received  with  more  respect  had  he  restrained 
his  rashness,  and  never  embellished  them  with  ludi- 
crous and  apocryphal  statements. 

The  rest  of  the  clergy  in  Connecticut  still  lingered 
at  their  Missions,  and  soon,  in  the  turmoils  of  civil 
war,  their  experience  approached  that  of  their  more 
officious  and  impetuous  brother.  The  voice  of  relig- 
ion is  seldom  heard  in  the  clamors  of  party,  and  the 
violence  which  only  provokes  resistance  is  the  natural 
result  of  allowing  no  room  for  exercising  the  rights 
of  conscience.  Civil  war  unhappily  carries  in  its  train 
numberless  evils,  and  often  effects  alienations  and 
hatreds  in  society  and  among  friends,  which  years 
will  not  obliterate.  During  its  progress,  entire  silence 
excites  suspicion;  and  the  man,  therefore,  who  cannot 
or  will  not  follow  ex  animo  the  triumphant  populace 
in  all  its  extravagances  and  ungracious  requirements, 
need  not  be  surprised  to  find  himself  accounted  an 


308  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

enemy  to  his  country,  and  reproach  and  scurriUty 
plentifully  heaped  upon  his  head.  "People,"  said  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Inglis  of  New  York,  referring  to  the  perse- 
cutions of  the  time,  "were  not  at  liberty  to  speak 
their  sentiments,  and  even  silence  was  construed  as 
a  mark  of  disaffection," 

Aside  from  their  unpopularity  with  the  partisans 
of  independence,  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land in  this  colony  were  exposed  to  all  the  wrongs 
and  suspicions  and  oppressions  which  arose  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  Revolutionary  war.  Some  of  them, 
who  clung  steadily  to  the  cause  of  the  Crown  and 
freely  spoke  out  their  sentiments,  were  drawn  at  once 
into  embarrassments  and  perils;  and  others,  whom  no 
words  of  their  own  would  criminate,  found  very  little 
comfort  from  the  prophetic  promise,  "In  quietness 
and  confidence  shall  be  your  strength."  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Mansfield  of  Derby,  the  guileless  pastor,  who 
thought  he  must  do  his  duty  to  his  people  in  every 
emergency,  undertook,  as  soon  as  "the  sparks  of  civil 
dissension  appeared,"  to  inculcate  upon  them,  both 
from  the  pulpit  and  in  private  conversation,  a  peace- 
ful submission  to  the  King  and  to  the  parent  state ; 
and  so  successful  were  his  efforts  and  his  influence, 
that,  out  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  families  which  at- 
tended divine  service  in  his  two  churches,  he  reported 
(December  29th,  1775)  one  hundred  and  ten  to  be 
"firm,  steadfast  friends  of  the  Government,"  having  no 
sympathy  with  the  popular  measures,  and  detesting 
the  "unnatural  rebellion."  Five  or  six  persons,  pro- 
fessors of  the  Church  of  England,  plunged  themselves 
into  it,  guided,  as  he  thought,  by  the  influence  of 
Captain  John  Holbrook,  who   "for  many  years  past 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  309 

had  entertained  a  disgust  against  him  and  his  breth- 
ren of  the  Church,  and  seemed  to  have  meditated  re* 
venge,  merely  because  they  did  not  gratify  some  pri- 
vate views  he  had  about  the  place  on  which  to  build 
the  Oxford  church."  Several  officers  of  the  militia, 
having  collected  a  number  of  soldiers  and  volunteers 
from  different  towns,  undertook,  late  in  the  autumn 
of  1775,  to  subdue  the  Tories  in  Connecticut,  and  for 
this  purpose  proceeded  first  to  Newtown,  where  they 
put  the  Rev.  Mr.  Beach,  the  Selectmen,  and  other 
principal  inhabitants,  under  strict  guard,  and  urged 
them  to  sign  the  articles  of  association  prescribed  by 
the  Congress  in  Philadelphia;  but  when  they  could 
prevail  upon  them  neither  by  persuasions  nor  by 
threats,  they  accepted  from  them  a  bond,  with  a  large 
pecuniary  penalty  inserted,  not  to  take  up  arms  against 
the  colonies,  as  well  as  not  to  discourage  enlistments 
into  the  American  forces.  They  used  greater  severity 
in  other  places  which  they  visited,  and  fixed  upon  the 
first  week  in  December  to  disarm  the  loyalists  in 
Derby,  and  annihilate  their  influence.  With  a  view 
of  checking  such  violent  proceedings,  a  number  of 
his  most  respectable  parishioners  waited  upon  Mr. 
Mansfield  at  that  critical  juncture,  and  requested  him 
to  send  to  Governor  Tryon  of  New  York  an  account 
of  the  sufferings  of  the  loyalists  in  Connecticut,  and  a 
list  of  the  names  of  those  who  were  known  to  be  such 
in  his  Mission.  He  complied  with  their  request,  and 
added  some  suggestions  of  his  own  about  the  manner 
of  reducing  the  colony  to  subjection  and  obedience. 
The  day  after  his  letter  was  dispatched,  a  friend,  to 
whom  he  had  communicated  the  knowledge  of  it, 
was  seized  and  carried  before  the  Committee  of  In-? 


310         HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

spection,  who  compelled  him  to  disclose  the  contents, 
and  thus  Mr.  Mansfield  was  criminated  in  a  way  that 
he  least  expected.  To  escape  outrage,  imprisonment,  or 
death,  which  was  meditated  against  him,  he  fled  from 
his  churches,  his  family,  and  his  home,  and  found  a 
temporary  asylum  m  the  town  of  Hempstead,  on  Long 
Island.  His  own  narrative  of  his  misfortunes  is  very 
touching,  especially  the  part  which  relates  to  his  do- 
mestic affairs.  "At  a  somewhat  advanced  stage  of 
life,"  said  he,  "being  fifty-two  years  old,  when  I  hoped 
to  have  spent  my  remaining  years  in  an  agreeable 
manner,  in  peace  and  tranquillity  with  my  family, 
parishioners,  and  friends,  and  vainly  imagined  that 
death  only  would  make  any  lasting  separation,  I  was 
forced  to  flee  from  home,  leaving  behind  a  virtuous, 
good  wife,  with  one  young  child  newly  weaned  from 
the  breast;  four  other  children  which  are  small,  and 
not  of  sufficient  age  to  support  themselves;  and  four 
others  which  are  adults,  and  all  of  them  overwhelmed 
with  grief,  and  bathed  in  tears,  and  but  very  slenderly 
provided  with  the  means  of  support." 

Such  were  the  signs  of  the  thick  gathering  storm,  the 
beginning  of  the  horrors  and  calamities,  which  befell 
the  Church  in  Connecticut.  Up  to  this  time,  the  laity, 
for  the  most  part,  had  stood  by  the  clergy,  and  sup- 
ported them  in  their  views  of  Christian  obedience  and 
public  duty. 

There  were  notable  exceptions;  for  as  early  as  1774 
not  a  man  in  Stratford  was  ready  to  dissent  from  revo- 
lutionary measures,  and  from  the  movements,  in  vari- 
ous places,  expressive  of  sympathy  for  those  who  suf- 
fered from  the  oppressive  acts  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment.     Undoubtedly  the  influence   of  Johnson,  the 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  311 

patriot  and  statesman,  was  felt  in  shaping  the  populai 
sentiment  of  his  native  town,  and  in  guiding  the 
course  of  churchmen  there  to  a  quiet  and  inoffensive 
neutrality.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Council  of  Con- 
necticut, and  one  of  the  three,  first  chosen  to  repre- 
sent the  colony  in  the  General  Congress  which  met  at 
Philadelphia,  September  5th,  1774.  But  having  pre- 
viously accepted  the  office  of  an  arbitrator  on  the 
estate  of  Van  Rensselaer,  he  was  excused  from  serv- 
ing, and  Silas  Deane  was  appointed  in  his  place.  The 
General  Assembly  of  Connecticut  was  convened  im- 
mediately after  the  battle  of  Lexington ;  and  he  and 
a  gentleman  of  the  Lower  House  were  deputed  to 
visit  General  Gage,  then  in  command  of  the  British 
troops  at  Boston,  and  see  if  some  means  could  not  be 
devised  by  which  the  horrors  of  war  might  be  averted 
and  peace  secured.  Starting  on  their  journey  with 
a  pacific  letter  from  the  Governor,  they  met  at  En- 
field a  part  of  the  Boston  delegation  to  Congress,  and 
found  them  warm  in  the  cause  of  the  colonies,  and 
one  of  them  even  rejoicing  that  hostilities  had  com- 
menced. In  due  time.  Dr.  Johnson  returned  to  Hart- 
ford with  the  answer  of  General  Gage  to  the  Legisla- 
ture ;  but  that  body  had  adjourned  ;  and  so  far  from 
leaving  any  directions  for  the  Committee,  they  had 
adopted  resolutions  of  a  very  contrary  nature  and 
tendency,  and  voted  men  and  money  for  the  Avar. 
This  change  was  effected  by  the  instrumentality  of 
the  Delegates  from  Massachusetts.  Finding  himself 
thus  deserted,  he  returned  solitarily  to  his  home ;  and 
retiring  from  the  Council  after  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, he  set  himself  quietly  down  to  his  studies, 
persuaded  that  he  could  not  conscientiously  join  in  a 


312  HISTORY  OP  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

War  against  England,  much  less  in  a  war  against  his 
own  country.  The  progress  of  events  brought  him 
again  before  the  public,  and  he  resumed  the  practice 
of  his  profession,  and  was  subsequently  reinstated  in 
his  seat  in  the  Legislative  Council. 

Though  two  of  the  clergy  of  Connecticut  had  been 
compelled  to  flee  from  their  missions,  the  people  were 
not  yet  deprived  of  the  privilege  of  assembling  in 
their  own  houses  of  worship,  and  of  honoring  God 
and  praying  to  him  in  the  venerable  forms  of  the 
Liturgy.  If  they  desired  the  suppression  of  the  re- 
bellion and  the  establishment  of  the  King's  authority 
in  the  land,  it  was  because  they  felt  that  churchmen, 
as  the  weaker  party,  could  only  in  this  way  hope  for 
encouragement  and  permanent  security.  They  gen- 
erally conceived  the  measures  of  the  colonies  to  be 
unwise,  if  not  unjust,  and  destined  to  end  either  in 
defeat  or  ruin  on  the  one  hand,  or  the  overthrow  of 
the  Church  on  the  other.  It  was  inferred  from  the 
history  of  the  past,  that,  if  successful,  few  would  be 
the  tender  mercies  shown  by  the  Independents  in 
New  England  to  a  form  of  Protestant  religion  which 
was  in  their  eyes  "dissent,"  and  which  nothing  but 
the  want  of  power  hitherto  had  prevented  them  from 
fully  destroying.  It  was  the  remark  of  a  Presbyte- 
rian deacon,  made  in  the  hearing  of  one  who  put  it 
upon  record,  "  that  if  the  colonies  carried  their  point, 
there  would  not  be  a  church  in  the  New-England 
States,"^ — meaning  an  Episcoj)al  church,  for  at  that 
period  it  was  customary  to  designate  the  Congrega- 
tional edifices  by  the  name  of  "meeting-houses." 

While   the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  and 

1  Bronson's  Hist.  Waierbury,  p.  331. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  313 

their  flocks  were  thus  on  the  side  of  the  Crown,'  it 
must  not  be  supposed  that  they  Avere  "sinners  above 
all  them  that  dwelt  at  Jerusalem."  The  same  views 
were  entertained  by  many  Avho  had  no  sympathy  with 
Episcopacy,  but  who  joined  the  conservators  of  peace, 
parti}'  on  religious  grounds,  and  partly  because  they 
feared  the  strength  and  resources  of  the  British  realm, 
and  believed  that  the  colonies  had  privileges  enough 
under  her  government  without  fruitlessly  seeking  a 
separation.  When  General  Warren  fell  at  the  battle 
of  Bunker  Hill,  a  letter  was  found  in  his  pocket  from 
his  friend  and  classmate  Lemuel  Hedge,  pastor  of  the 
church  at  Warwick,  Mass.,  in  Avhich  he  professed  to 
the  General  "a  sincere  interest  in  the  liberty  of  his 
country,  although  he  admitted  his  doubts  in  regard 
to  the  issue  of  the  Revolutionary  struggle."  Another 
loyal  divine  in  the  same  province,  like  all  good  sub- 
jects, had  prayed  so  long  for  "our  excellent  King 
George,"  that,  after  the  war  commenced,  he  inadver- 
tently used,  one  Sunday,  in  his  pulpit  devotions,  his 
stereotyped  phrase,  but  saved  himself  for  that  time 
from  the  vengeance  of  his  flock  by  immediately  add- 
ing, "0  Lord,  I  mean  George  Washington." 

A  careftd  collector^  of  the  history  of  the  American 
Loyalists,  or,  as  they  were  opprobriously  called  in  the 
politics  of  the  day,  the  Tories  of  the  Revolution, 
has  enrolled  on  his  list  full  a  score  of  Cono-reo-ational 
ministers  in  New  England  alone,  who,  for  no  other 
reason,  were  suspected  by  their  people,  drawn  into 
trouble  with  them,  and  finally  forced  to  surrender  their 
pastoral  responsibilities.  They  might  have  been  of 
that  number  of  ambassadors  for  Christ,  who,  in  every 

1  Sabine. 


314         HISTORY   OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

season  of  trial,  think  it  their  supreme  duty  to  make 
the  proclamations  of  the  Gospel  rise  above  all  secular 
themes,  and  leave  to  statesmen  the  consideration  and 
adjustment  of  perplexing  questions  of  national  policy. 
How  many  more  were  secretly  of  their  oj)inion  can- 
not be  ascertained;  but  there  were  those  who,  if  they 
never  counselled  submission  to  the  unjust  and  arbi- 
trary acts  of  the  British  power,  certainly  did  not  unite 
in  heart  with  that  large  class  who  thundered  revolt 
from  their  pulpits,  and  scattered  the  firebrands  of  war 
in  the  path  of  their  ministrations. 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  315 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE;  TRIALS   OF  THE  MISSION- 
ARIES  IN  CONNECTICUT;  AND  DEATH  OF  MR.  BEACH. 

A.  D.  1776-1781. 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1776,  the  Thirteen  Colonies, 
through  their  Congress  at  Philadelphia,  declared  them- 
selves independent  of  Great  Britain, — a  step  towards 
which  their  measures  from  the  first  had  been  inevi- 
tably and  surely  tending.  Some  patriots,  more  cau- 
tious than  others,  thought  the  movement  was  precip- 
itated. All  connection  with  the  mother-country  was 
now  solemnly  dissolved,  and  the  American  people  were 
released  from  any  allegiance  to  the  sovereignty  of  the 
King.  The  Declaration  involved  the  clergy  of  the 
Church,  especially  the  Northern  clergy,  in  new  troubles, 
and  added  greatly  to  their  embarrassments.  As  faith- 
ful Missionaries  of  the  Venerable  Society,  from  which 
came  their  chief  support,  they  honestly  believed  them- 
selves bound  by  their  oaths  of  allegiance,  taken  at  the 
time  of  their  ordination,  to  pray  for  the  Sovereign 
whose  dominion  the  colonies  had  thrown  off;  and 
guided  by  the  forms  of  the  Liturgy,  they  could  omit- 
no  part  in  conducting  public  worship  without  doing 
violence  to  their  own  consciences.  After  indepen- 
dence was  declared,  stricter  vigilance  was  employed  in 
watching  the  course  of  the  Tories  in  Coimecticut ;  and 
the  persecutions  and  privations  to  which  the  clergy 


316  HISTORY    OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

were  exposed  assumed  other  and  harsher  shapes.  Mr. 
Viets,  suspected  of  having  assisted  the  Rojahsts  who 
were  confined  in  the  Simsbury  mines  to  escape,  was 
rudely  torn  from  his  people,  carried  a  prisoner  to  the 
Hartford  jail,  and  put  in  irons.  Mr.  Leaming  of  Nor- 
walk,  quiet  in  his  manners,  and  inoffensive,  except 
that  he  wielded  a  vigorous  pen  and  adhered  unflinch- 
mgly  to  his  loyal  principles,  was  the  victim  of  an  out- 
rage even  more  atrocious  than  this.  The  Sons  of 
Liberty,  as  the  patriots  termed  themselves,  —  in  the 
present  instance  a  lawless  mob, — entered  the  parson- 
age, took  his  picture  from  the  wall,  carried  it  forth, 
and  added  to  other  insults  that  of  "defacing  and  nail- 
ing it  to  a  sign-post  Avith  the  head  downward."  Not 
satisfied  with  this  indignity,  they  afterwards  seized  him 
and  lodged  him  in  jail  as  a  Tory,  where  he  was  de- 
nied the  usual  comforts  of  a  bed, — a  species  of  per- 
sonal abuse  which  he  could  never  forget,  since  it 
brought  on  a  hip  complaint  that  made  him  a  cripj^le  for 
life.  In  Connecticut,  as  in  the  Province  of  New  York, 
some  of  the  clergy  were  pulled  out  of  their  reading- 
desks,  because  they  prayed  for  the  King  and  Royal 
family;  and  others  were  thrown  into  prisons  "for  friv- 
olous suspicions  of  plots,"  and  subsequently  acquitted 
by  the  very  Committees  of  Vigilance  which  were  their 
persecutors. 

"I  could  fill  a  volume  with  such  instances,"  said  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Inglis,  in  a  letter  to  the  Society,  in  the  au- 
tumn of  1776,  after  describing  the  trials  of  the  clergy, 
"and  you  may  rely  on  the  facts  I  have  mentioned  as 
indubitable,  for  I  can  name  the  persons,  and  have 
these  particulars  attested  in  the  simplest  manner. 
The  persons  concerned  are  all  my  acquaintances,  and 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  317 

not  very  distant;  nor  did  they  draw  this  treatment 
on  themselves  by  any  imprudence,  but  for  adhering 
to  their  duty,  which  gave  great  offence  to  some 
demagogues,  who  raised  mobs  to  persecute  them  on 
that  very  account.  AYhatcver  rekictance  or  pain  a  be- 
nevolent heart  may  feel  in  recounting  such  things, 
which  are,  indeed,  a  disgrace  to  humanity  and  relig- 
ion, yet  they  ought  to  be  held  up  to  view,  the  more 
effectually  to  expose  the  baneful  nature  of  persecu 
tiou,  make  it  detestable,  and  j^ut  mankind  on  their 
guard  against  its  first  approaches.  Were  every  in- 
stance of  this  kind  faithfully  collected,  it  is  probable 
that  the  sufferings  of  the  American  clergy  would  ap- 
pear, in  many  respects,  not  inferior  to  those  of  the 
English  clergy  in  the  great  rebellion  of  the  last  cen- 
tury; and  such  a  work  would  be  no  bad  supplement 
to  '  Walker's  Sufferings  of  the  Clergy.' " 

Several  of  the  Missionaries  in  Connecticut,  who  con- 
tinued to  reside  on  their  respective  missions,  were  for- 
bidden to  go  beyond  them,  and  others  were  placed 
for  a  time  under  heavy  bonds,  and  not  allowed  to 
visit  even  a  parishioner  without  special  leave  from 
the  Selectmen  of  the  town.  This  was  the  case  with 
Mr.  Andrews  of  Wallingford;  and  Mr.  Kneeland  of 
Stratford,  the  successor  and  grandson  by  marriage 
of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Johnson,  thus  died  a  prisoner  to  the 
patriots  in  his  own  house,  April  17th,  1777.  Mr. 
Sayre  of  Fairfield  was  banished  to  New  Britain  for 
seven  months,  and  then,  upon  his  return,  confined  to 
the  limits  of  his  parish.  Unable,  by  reason  of  the  war, 
to  communicate  with  the  Society,  the  clergy  were  in- 
convenienced, if  not  distressed,  for  want  of  opportu- 
nity to  draw  their  salaries ;  and  a  generous  collection, 


318  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

by  royal  order,  was  made  in  England  and  sent  to  Mr. 
Inglis  of  New  York,  to  be  distributed  among  certain 
Missionaries  in  that  province.  New  Jersey,  and  Con- 
necticut. In  January,  1782,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fogg  of 
Pomfret  memorialized  the  General  Assembly,  sitting 
by  adjournment  at  Hartford,  and  prayed  that  he 
might  have  permission  to  go  to  New  York,  "under 
such  regulations  and  restrictions,  and  in  such  way  as 
their  Honors  in  their  wisdom  should  judge  expedient," 
for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  his  dues  from  the  So- 
ciety for  the  last  seven  years,  and  "the  same  to  bring 
out  in  hard  money  only."  Though  the  Selectmen  of 
the  town  supported  Mr.  Fogg,  and  represented  him 
as  having  "conducted  himself  in  a  peaceable  and  quiet 
manner  since  the  contest  began  with  Great  Britain," 
yet  the  pra3^er  of  the  memorial  was  not  granted. 

The  clergy  could  not  officiate  publicly  and  use  the 
prayers  for  the  King  and  Royal  Family  accord- 
ing to  the  Liturgy  without  exposing  themselves  to 
inevitable  destruction;  and  to  omit  these  prayers,  as 
before  stated,  was  contrary  to  their  oath  and  views 
of  duty,  as  well  as  to  the  dictates  of  their  conscience. 
Therefore,  to  avoid  the  evils  of  this  dilemma,  at  a  Con- 
vention held  in  New  Haven,  July  23d,  1776,  (Mr. 
Jarvis  presiding,)  they  resolved  to  suspend  the  public 
exercise  of  their  ministerial  functions.  Some  of  them 
had  already  done  this  by  the  direction  of  their  people, 
and  all  the  churches  in  Connecticut  were  thus  for  a 
time  closed  except  those  under  the  oversight  of  Mr. 
Beach,  which  were  kept  open  during  the  war.  That 
at  Redding,  however,  could  hardly  have  been  used  by 
him  with  the  fall  Liturgy,  in  the  winter  of  1779,  when 
General   Putnam  was  stationed   there  to  cover  the 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  319 

country  adjoining  the  Sound,  and  to  support  the  gar- 
rison at  West  Point  in  case  of  an  attack.  But  be  this 
as  it  may,  after  the  independence  of  the  colonies  was 
declared,  he  continued  to  officiate  as  usual  and  pray 
for  the  King,  and  no  threats  of  personal  violence  could 
silence  the  voice  of  his  public  duty.  The  churchmen 
of  Newtown  had  now  become  the  major  part  of  the 
population,  and  the  Redding  Association  of  Loyalists 
was  a  strong  body  whose  secret  influence  was  felt 
throughout  the  mission  of  the  venerable  pastor.  His 
course  gave  great  offence  to  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  and 
more  than  one  attempt  was  made  to  bring  him  into 
subjection  under  the  authority  of  the  Congressional 
measures.  But  though  gentle  as  a  lamb  in  the  inter- 
courses of  private  life,  he  was  bold  as  a  lion  in  the 
discharge  of  his  public  duty.  Nothing  could  intimi- 
date him ;  and  when  warned  of  personal  danger  if  he 
persisted,  he  declared,  with  the  spirit  and  firmness  of 
a  martyr,  "That  he  would  do  his  duty,  preach  and 
pray  for  the  King,  till  the  rebels  cut  out  his  tongue." 
A  squad  of  patriots  watched  him  one  day  as  he  en- 
tered his  desk,  and  a  loaded  musket  was  pointed  at 
him  as  he  proceeded  in  the  forms  of  the  Liturgy,  evi- 
dently  intending  to  take  his  life  if  he  used  the  prayers 
for  "our  most  gracious  Sovereign,  King  George"  and 
the  Royal  family;  but  God,  who  "restrains  the  re- 
mainder of  wrath,"  withheld  the  hand  of  the  assassin, 
or  rendered  the  shot  harmless,^  so  that  his  head,  "sil- 

1  Wliile  officiating  one  day  in  Redding,  a  shot  was  fired  into  the  church, 
and  the  ball  struck  above  him  and  lodged  in  the  sounding-board.  Pausing 
for  a  moment,  he  repeated  the  words :  "  Fear  not  them  which  kill  the  body, 
but  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul ;  but  rather  fear  him  which  is  able  to  destroy 
both  soul  and  body  in  hell."  He  then  proceeded  in  the  service  without 
further  interruption. 


320  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

vered  o'er  with  age,"  was  spared  the  bloody  destruc- 
tion that  was  threatened. 

Mr.  Tyler  of  Norwich,  who  hved  in  such  constant 
dread  of  his  enemies  that  he  was  afraid,  if  tradition 
speak  the  truth,  to  drink  the  water  from  his  own  well, 
said  in  July,  1776:  "I  had  a  conference  with  the  pro- 
fessors of  the  Church  of  England  in  ni}-  parish,  respect- 
ing the  prayer  for  the  King,  now  that  the  Continental 
Congress  has  declared  the  colonies  independent  of 
Great  Britain;  and  put  it  to  vote  whether  we  should 
continue  the  use  of  the  Liturgy  without  any  altera- 
tion, or  omit  public  worship  altogether;  and  the  vote 
passed  unanimously  for  omitting  public  worship  in 
the  church  for  the  present."  During  this  intermis- 
sion he  ofhciated  for  the  people  in  his  own  house 
without  molestation,  and  visited  other  towns  in  the 
colony,  where  he  preached  and  administered  the  two 
sacraments  "generally  necessary  to  salvation."  The 
same  authority  which  ordered  the  closing  of  the 
church  caused  it  to  be  reopened  November  27,  1778, 
the  reasons  for  which  step  can  best  be  given  in  Mr. 
Tyler's  own  words:  "There  was  a  meeting  of  the 
professors  of  the  Church  of  England,  in  which  I  of- 
fered to  officiate  again,  to  use  the  whole  Liturgy, 
except  the  prayers  for  the  King  and  Parliament;  my 
reasons  were  to  this  effect :  That  the  cause  of  religion 
ought  not  to  be  annihilated  on  a  civil  account;  that 
puljlic  worship  w^as  of  too  much  consequence  to  be  to- 
tally omitted  on  account  of  a  few  Avords  in  a  liturgy; 
that  my  obligations,  though  binding  at  first,  could  not 
be  so  to  use  the  whole  Liturgy  now,  when  matters 
were  so  much  altered.  Christ's  kingdom  is  not  of  this 
world,  and  so  may  exist  without  the  civil  powers:  an 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  321 

obligation  that  becomes  wrong,  or  impossible  to  ad- 
here to,  is  of  course  null  and  void.  In  consequence, 
the  people  voted  almost  unanimously  to  open  the 
church,  omitting  the  prayers  for  the  King  and  Par- 
liament." 

His  neighbor  at  New  London,  Mr.  Graves,  was  not 
of  such  pliant  principles.  His  loyalty  far  outran  that 
of  his  parishioners,  for  when  they  respectfully  re- 
quested him  to  discontinue  reading  the  offensive  part 
of  the  Liturgy,  he  declared  that  he  could  not  con- 
scientiously comply.  He  paid  no  heed  to  the  inti- 
mations, that,  if  he  persisted,  perilous  consequences 
might  ensue.  The  next  Sunday  a  company  of  ardent 
Whigs  stationed  themselves  near  the  door  of  the  church, 
with  one  in  the  porch  to  give  the  concerted  signal  by 
strilving  the  bell,  and  no  sooner  had  Mr.  Graves  com- 
menced the  prayer  for  the  King,  than  the  throng 
poured  in,  led  by  two  athletic  men,  who  drew  him 
from  the  high  seat  of  his  devotions,  and  "brought  him 
expeditiously  to  the  level  of  the  floor."  ^  A  couple 
of  resolute  matrons  belongino;  to  the  cong-reQ-ation 
rushed  forward,  and  putting  themselves  in  front  of 
the  unfortunate  Missionary,  evinced  their  determina- 
tion of  standing  between  him  and  all  harm.  Finally 
he  was  allowed  to  escape,  and  "fled,  in  his  surplice,  to 
the  house  of  a  parishioner,  who,  though  a  warm  Whig, 
was  his  personal  friend,  and  protected  him  from  the 
violence  of  the  mob."  The  doors  of  the  church  were 
then  fastened,  and  for  some  time  the  regular  course 
of  parish  business  was  interrupted,  and  the  usual  offi- 
cers were  not  chosen. 

The  first  attempt  to   resume  public  services  was 

1  Caulkius's  Hint,  of  New  London,  p.  446. 
21 


322         HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

made  at  a  parish  meeting  November  14,  1778,  when 
it  was  "put  to  vote,  that  no  person  be  permitted  to 
enter  the  church  and  act  as  a  pastor  to  it,  unless  he 
openly  prays  for  Congress  and  the  free  and  indepen- 
dent States  of  America,  and  their  prosperity  by  sea 
and  land."  The  vote  was  adopted  by  a  small  major- 
ity, but  challenged  on  the  ground  that  those  had  par- 
ticipated in  it  who  had  no  right,  and  the  final  result 
was  ten  on  either  side.  The  Wardens  were  therefore 
instructed  to  wait  on  the  Rev.  Mr.  Graves  and  ac- 
quaint him  with  this  vote,  and  if  it  was  agreeable  to 
him  to  officiate  as  pastor  of  the  church  according  to 
its  terms,  he  might  be  admitted  the  next  day,  which 
was  Sunday.  But  he  was  inflexible,  and  declined  to 
comply  with  the  proposition  of  the  parishioners.  Not 
many  months  after  this  occurrence  he  was  conveyed 
to  New  York  by  a  flag  of  truce,  where  he  died  sud- 
denly, April  5th,  1780.  His  letter  to  the  Society, 
dated  September  29th,  the  month  after  his  departure 
from  New  London,  may  very  properly  close  our  notices 
of  his  checkered  life:  "After  undergoing  a  continued 
scene  of  persecutions,  afflictions,  and  trials,  almost  even 
unto  death,  for  my  religious  principles  and  unshaken 
loyalty  to  my  King  and  country,  I  obtained  permis- 
sion to  remove  to  New  York,  where  I  live  under  the 
wings  of  Uberty,  and  the  protection  of  His  Majesty's 
Government;  which  ineffable  blessing  may  God  con- 
tinue to  us  and  our  posterity  till  time  shall  be  no 
more! 

"I  was  often  desired  to  officiate  during  these  un- 
happy times,  but  as  often  abhorred  the  idea  of  an  In- 
dependent church.  However,  I  have  faithfully  per- 
formed aU  occasional  duties;  visiting  the  sick,  burying 


IN   CONNPXTICUT.  323 

the  dead,  and  baptizing  the  children  of  several  dis- 
senters, as  well  as  those  of  my  own  communion. 

"How  I  have  supported  my  family,  [he  was  a  bach- 
elor who  kept  house  with  a  maiden  sister,]  God  only 
knows;  having  been  obliged  to  sell  part  of  the  furni- 
ture of  my  rooms  and  kitchen,  and  even  my  negro 
girl;  and  at  last  to  take  up  money  on  the  best  terms 
I  could, — our  paper  currency  being  20-25,  and  now  30 
for  one  silver  dollar.  But  I  hope  the  time  of  redemp- 
tion draws  nigh,  and  that  our  merciful,  though  of- 
fended God  will  consider  our  souls  in  adversity,  and 
graciously  deliver  us  from  the  pride,  malice,  and  de- 
vices of  a  rebellious,  persecuting  people." 

By  a  vote  of  the  parishioners  in  January,  1780,  the 
Congregational  Society  at  New  London  was  allowed 
the  use  of  the  church  "during  the  severity  of  the 
■vvanter  and  the  pleasure  of  the  Church."  But  in  the 
succeeding  June  an  attempt  was  made  to  restore  their 
own  worship,  and  it  was  voted  in  parish  meeting,  "that 
the  Church-wardens  call  on  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tyler  of 
Norwich  to  otliciate  in  the  church,  or  any  gentleman 
that  will  officiate  as  he  does  respecting  the  pra/jers."  A 
year  later,  it  was  again  "voted  that  the  Wardens 
call  on  some  reverend  gentleman  to  officiate  in  the 
Church  of  St.  James,  after  the  manner  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Jarvis  or  Mr.  Hubbard."  These  votes,  which  failed  to 
secure  ministrations,  throw  light  upon  the  practice  of 
the  clergy  in  other  places.  It  is  impossible  to  tell 
from  his  Parochial  Register  when  and  how  long  Mr. 
Hubbard  discontinued  the  public  services  in  Trinity 
Church,  but  he  probably  obeyed  the  resolve  of  the 
Convention  which  met  in  New  Haven  soon  after  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,   and   then    quietly  re- 


324  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

turned  to  his  duties  in  the  sanctuary,  praying  "open 
ly,"  hke  the  rest  of  his  brethren,  "for  Congress  and  the 
free  and  independent  States  of  America."  There  was 
no  neglect  of  the  parish  organization  in  New  Haven 
during  the  Revolution,  the  annual  Easter  meetings 
being  duly  held  for  the  choice  of  officers;  but  the 
name  of  Isaac  Doolittle,  who  had  been  from  the  first 
one  of  its  Wardens  and  principal  supporters,  and  who 
was  also  an  ardent  Whig,  and  interested  in  erecting  a 
powder-mill  near  the  town  after  the  war  broke  out, 
was  dropped  from  the  list  of  officers  in  1777,  and  not 
restored  until  after  the  prelnninary  treaty  of  peace 
had  been  signed  at  Paris.  Though  the  loyalty  of  Mr. 
Hubbard  was  well  known,  he  conducted  himself  so 
discreetly  and  inoffensively  that  he  was  not  seriously 
embarrassed  in  his  ministrations,  which  were  extended 
north  to  Bethany,  and  on  the  shore  of  the  Sound  east 
to  Guilford,  and  west  to  Fairfield. 

While  the  British  army  occupied  New  York,  the 
towns  on  the  sea-board  were  continually  liable  to 
incursions  of  the  enemy ;  and  early  in  the  morning  of 
Monday,  the  5th  of  July,  1779,  a  fleet  of  vessels  of 
war,  under  Sir  George  Collier,  and  transports  with 
troops,  under  General  Tryon,  anchored  off  West  Ha- 
ven, and  by  mid-day  the  city  was  in  the  possession  of 
the  invaders,  and  bloodshed,  plunder,  and  destruction 
followed.  The  British  "officers  treated  Mr.  Hubbard 
and  his  family  with  respect  and  kindness,  for))idding 
any  soldiers  to  enter  his  house,  or  in  any  manner  to 
molest  his  premises;  and  in  consequence  of  this  exemp- 
tion from  troublesome  visits  from  the  soldiery,  he  was 
enabled  to  save  a  considerable  amount  of  property  to 
the  sufferino;  inhabitants."     On  the  afternoon  of  Tues- 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  325 

day  General  Try  on  withdrew  his  forces,  and  the  fleet 
set  sail  to  the  westward ;  and  the  next  morning  the 
troops  again  disembarked  upon  the  beach  at  Fairfield. 
That  town  was  not  destined  to  escape  Uke  New  Haven. 
It  was  first  plundered;  and  then  the  houses  of  the 
inliabitants,  together  with  the  two  churches,  the  court- 
house, jail,  school-houses,  and  barns  filled  with  wheat 
and  other  produce,  were  burnt.  "  General  Tryon,"  said 
the  Congregational  pastor,  communicating  the  facts 
to  his  brother  at  Boston,  "was  in  various  parts  of  the 
town  plot,  with  the  good  women  begging  and  en- 
treating him  to  spare  their  houses.  Mr.  Sayre,  the 
Church  of  England  Missionary,  a  gentleman  firmly 
and  zealously  engaged  in  the  British  interest,  and  who 
has  suffered  considerably  in  their  cause,  joined  -with 
them  in  these  entreaties;  he  begged  the  General  to 
spare  the  town,  but  was  denied.  He  then  begged  that 
some  few  houses  might  be  spared,  as  a  shelter  for 
those  who  could  provide  habitations  nowhere  else; 
this  was  denied  also."  The  commanding  General  was 
in  a  barbarous  frame  of  mind,  and  apologized  after- 
wards for  his  course,  by  saying  that  "the  village  was 
burnt  to  resent  the  fire  of  the  rebels  from  their  houses, 
and  to  mask  our  retreat." 

Mr.  Sayre  was  not  one  of  those  prudent  Mission- 
aries who  escaped  the  insults  and  hatred  of  his  adver- 
saries. The  unfinished  church  at  North  Fairfield, 
where  galleries  were  erected  shortly  after  it  came 
under  his  care,  was  subjected  to  the  most  beastly  de- 
filements, and  the  windows  broken.  It  was  not  that 
he  offended  by  praying  for  the  King,  for  he  said,  in  a 
letter  to  the  Society,  dated  at  Flushing,  L.  I.,  Novem- 
ber 8,  1779:  "We  did  not  use  any  part  of  the  Liturgy 


326  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

lately,  for  I  could  not  make  it  agreeable,  either  to  my 
inclination  or  conscience,  to  mutilate  it,  especially  in 
so  material  a  point  as  that  is  wherein  our  duties  as 
subjects  are  recognized.  We  met  at  the  usual  hours 
every  Sunday,  read  parts  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, and  some  Psalms.  All  these  were  selected  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  convey  such  instructions  and  sen- 
timents as  were  suited  to  our  situation.  We  sang 
Psalms  with  the  same  view.  On  Sunday  mornings  I 
read  the  Homilies  in  their  course,  and  on  the  after- 
noons I  expounded  either  parts  of  the  Catechism,  or 
some  such  passages  of  Holy  Scrij)ture  as  seemed 
adapted  to  our  case  in  particular,  or  to  the  public 
calamities  in  general.  By  this  method  we  enjoyed 
one  of  the  two  general  designs  of  pubhc  religious 
meetings,  I  mean  public  instruction ;  the  other,  to  wit, 
public  worship,  it  is  easy  to  believe  was  inadmissible 
in  our  circumstances,  without  taking  such  liberties 
with  the  service  as  I  confess  I  should  blame  even  a 
superior  in  the  Church  for  assuming.  Resolved  to  ad- 
here to  these  principles  and  public  professions,  which, 
upon  very  mature  deliberation  and  clear  conviction, 
I  had  adopted  and  made,  I  yielded  not  a  tittle  to  those 
who  opposed  them,  and  had  determined  to  remain 
with  my  people  to  see  the  end,  but  was  compelled  to 
alter  this  resolution  by  that  sudden  vicissitude  which 
I  must  now,  with  painful  reflection,  relate  to  the  So- 
ciety. On  the  7th  day  of  July  last,  Major  General 
Tryon  landed  at  Fairfield  with  a  body  of  His  Majesty's 
troops,  and  took  possession  of  the  town  and  its  en- 
virons, the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants  having 
tackled  their  teams  and  removed  what  they  could  on 
his  approach.     This  cut  oflf  all  hope  from  the   few 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  327 

Loyalists  of  saving  any  part  of  their  effects  if  the 
town  should  be  burnt,  every  carriage  being  taken 
away.  The  General  was  so  kind,  however,  as  to  order 
me  a  guard  to  protect  my  house  and  some  others  in 
its  vicinity,  when  he  had  resolved  to  commit  the  rest 
of  the  town  to  the  flames ;  for,  as  I  had  already  hmted, 
I  had  determined  to  remain  at  home.  But  the  un- 
governable flames  soon  extended  to  them  all,  and  in 
a  few  minutes  left  me,  with  a  family  consisting  of  my 
wife  and  eight  children,  destitute  of  food,  home,  and' 
raiment.  Thus  reduced,  I  could  not  thmk  of  remain- 
ing in  a  place  where  it  would  have  been  imj)ossible 
to  have  clothed  and  refurnished  my  family.  There- 
fore, availing  myself  of  the  protection  oflered  by  the 
present  opportunity,  I  retired  with  them  within  the 
King's  hues.  As  it  was  impossible  (from  the  want  of 
carriages)  to  save  anything  out  of  the  house,  the  val- 
uable little  library  given  by  the  Society  was  burnt, 
together  with  my  own;  and  the  plate  belonging  to 
Trinity  Church  at  Fairfield  was  lost,  as  well  as  that 
of  my  family,  and  that  handsome  church  itself  was 
entirely  consumed." 

But  the  expedition  had  not  yet  completed  its  dire- 
ful work,  and  after  crossing  the  Sound  to  Huntington 
Bay,  where  it  remained  over  Sunday,  it  returned  to 
Norwalk,  and  the  troops  were  once  more  landed,  and 
prepared  with  the  invader's  torch.  General  Tryon, 
on  the  morning  of  the  fatal  day,  sat  in  his  chair  upon 
Grummon's  Hill,  the  scene  of  his  headquarters,  and 
complacently  watched  the  flames  as  they  lapped  up 
dwelling  after  dwelling  in  the  village,  and  finally 
reached  that  sanctuary  which  had  so  often  echoed  with 
the  voices  of  loyal  worshippers,  and  laid  it  in  ashes. 


328  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

Thus  Mr.  Learning,  the  worthy  Missionary,  was  the 
victim  of  sufferings  both  from  the  American  and  Brit- 
ish parties.  But  let  him  tell  his  own  story  in  this  case. 
In  a  letter  to  the  Secretary,  dated  at  New  York,  the 
29th  day  of  the  same  month  in  which  his  church  was 
burnt,  he  said:  "It  is  now  a  long  time  since  I  have 
been  able  to  convey  a  letter  to  the  Society;  and  now 
I  must  give  a  disagreeable  account  of  m}^  affairs. 

"On  the  11th  inst,  [12th,]  by  the  unavoidable  event 
of  the  operation  of  His  Majesty's  troops  under  the 
command  of  General  Tryon,  my  church,  and  great 
part  of  my  parish,  were  laid  in  ashes,  by  which  I  have 
lost  everything  I  had  there, — my  furniture,  books, 
and  all  my  papers,  even  my  apparel,  except  wdiat  was 
on  my  back.  My  loss  on  that  fatal  day  was  not  less 
than  £1200  or.  £1300  sterling.  Although  in  great 
danger,  my  life  has  been  preserved,  and  I  hope  I  shall 
never  forget  the  kind  providence  of  God  in  that  try- 
ing hour.  In  this  situation  I  was  brought  by  His 
Majesty's  troops  to  this  city,  at  which  I  shall,  with 
the  greatest  pleasure,  obey  the  Society's  commands."  , 

Nearly  two  years  before,  the  same  commanding 
General,  with  a  detachment  of  2000  men,  penetrated 
to  Danbury,  a  place  which  the  commissioners  of  the 
American  army  had  selected  for  depositing  military 
stores;  and  wdiile  both  the  church  and  the  meeting- 
house there  were  used  as  repositories,  his  trooj)s  are 
said  to  have  taken  the  stores  out  of  the  church  and 
burned  them  in  the  streets,  saving  the  sacred  edifice, 
but  they  devoted  the  meeting-house  to  the  flames. 

If  we  step  back  into  the  interior  of  the  colony,  we 
shall  find,  at  this  period,  that  excitement  ran  high, 
and  in  some  places  a  most  wicked  spirit  prevailed. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  329 

The  builcling  unused  generally  goes  to  decay,  and  is 
often  a  mark  for  the  stones  of  the  vicious.  In  West- 
bury,  (now  Watertown,)  the  windows  of  the  Episcopal 
church  were  demolished,  as  they  were  in  other  local- 
ities, and  the  principal  members  were  confined  to  their 
farms,  and  not  allowed  to  attend  public  worship.  At 
Litchfield,  American  soldiers  broke  into  the  sanctuary, 
took  the  parish  papers  that  were  deposited  in  a  chest, 
and  tore  them  to  pieces.  Washington,  to  his  praise  be 
it  spoken,  frowned  on  all  such  wantonness;  and  when 
he  passed  through  that  town  during  the  war,  and 
some  of  his  soldiers  threw  a  shower  of  stones  at  the 
church, he  rebuked  them,  saying:  "I  am  a  churchman, 
and  wish  not  to  see  the  church  dishonored  and  deso- 
lated in  this  manner."  Mr.  Marshall  of  Woodbury  was 
one  of  the  Missionaries  of  the  Society  who  was  com- 
pelled to  encounter  all  the  obloquy  and  persecution  that 
spring  from  the  malice  and  rage  of  an  unrestrained 
populace.  Missiles  were  hurled  at  him  as  he  walked 
forth  into  the  public  highway.  "He  was  frequently 
forbidden  to  preach;  sometimes  forcibly  taken  in  the 
midst  of  his  sermon,  and  led  out  of  the  house  in  which 
he  was  officiating.  Once  he  was  waylaid  on  his  return 
from  Roxbury,  and  so  severely  beaten  that  he  was  con- 
fined to  his  room  for  several  weeks  from  the  injuries 
that  he  received."  ^  It  is  painful  to  call  up  these  facts, 
but  they  are  a  portion  of  the  history  of  the  times,  and 
ought  not  to  be  withheld.  Tlie  Missionaries,  for  the 
most  part,  bore  their  wrongs  in  silence,  for  they  were 
afraid  to  say  much,  even  when  they  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  communicating  with  their  friends  abroad. 
"It  is  a  long  time,"  wrote  Mr.  Beach  to  the  Secretary, 

1  Hitchcock's  History  of  (he  Church  in  Woodbury. 


330  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

October  31st,  1781,  "since  I  have  done  my  duty  in 
writing  to  the  Venerable  Society,  not  owing  to  my 
carelessness,  but  to  the  impossibility  of  conveyance 
from  here.  And  now  I  do  it  sparingly.  A  narrative 
of  ni}^  troubles  I  dare  not  now  give.  My  two  congre- 
gations are  growing ;  that  at  Redding  being  commonly 
about  three  hundred,  and  at  Newtown  about  six  hun- 
dred. I  baptized  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  chil- 
dren in  one  year,  and  lately  two  adults.  Newtown 
and  the  Church  of  England-part  of  Redding  are,  I 
believe,  the  only  parts  of  New  England  that  have  re- 
fused to  comply  with  the  doings  of  the  Congress,  and 
for  that  reason  have  been  the  butt  of  general  hatred. 
But  God  has  preserved  us  from  entire  destruction. 

"I  am  now  in  the  eighty-second  year  of  my  age, 
yet  do  constantly,  alternately,  perform  and  preach  at 
Newtown  and  Redding.  I  have  been  sixty  years  a 
jDublic  preacher,  and,  after  conviction,  in  the  Church 
of  England  fifty  years  ^  but  had  I  been  sensible  of  my 
inefficiency,  I  should  not  have  undertaken  it.  But 
now  I  rejoice  in  that  I  think  I  have  done  more  good 
towards  men's  eternal  happiness  than  I  could  have 
done  in  any  other  calling. 

"I  do  most  heartily  thank  the  Venerable  Society 
for  their  liberal  support,  and  beg  that  they  will  ac- 
cept this,  which  is,  I  believe,  my  last  bill,  viz.  £325, 
which,  according  to  former  custom,  is  due. 

"At  this  age  I  cannot  well  hope  for  it,  but  I  pray 
God  I  may  have  an  opportunity  to  explain  myself 
with  safety;  but  must  conclude  now  with  Job's  ex- 
pression, 'Have  pity  upon  me,  have  pity  upon  me,  0 
ye  my  friends.'" 

Six  months  after  Mr.  Beach  wrote  this  affecting 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  331 

epistle,  death  took  the  pen  from  his  hand,  and  he  de- 
scended to  the  grave,  where  "the  wicked  cease  from 
troubling,  and  where  the  weary  are  at  rest."  As  he 
aad  never  ceased  to  pray  for  the  King,  so  he  did  not 
live  to  witness  the  issue  of  the  struggle,  and  to  hear 
the  acclamations  of  joy  that  resounded  throughout 
the  land,  on  the  acknowledgment  of  American  Inde- 
pendence. The  memory  of  his  name  can  never  fail 
to  be  held  in  grateful  regard  by  Connecticut  church- 
men. The  hills  that  he  ascended,  and  the  valleys  that 
he  traversed  in  the  execution  of  his  sacred  office,  are 
doubly  attractive  for  their  natural  scenery,  and  as 
being  the  great  battle-ground  of  a  true  soldier  of  the 
Cross,  who,  with  primitive  faith,  and  in  troublous 
times,  "fought  the  good  fight,"  full  half  a  century,  for 
Christ  and  his  Church. 


332         HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

DISCOURAGING    FEATURES    IN    THE    CAUSE    OF     THE     COLONIES 
CONNECTICUT  THE  THEATRE  OF  FRESH  HORRORS;  CHANGE  IN 
THE  BRITISH  MINISTRY,  AND  TREATY   OF  PEACE. 

A.  D.  1781-1783. 

The  tenacity  with  which  the  Missionaries  in  Con- 
necticut adhered  to  the  cause  of  the  Crown  was 
strengthened  by  the  conviction  that,  in  the  end,  the 
colonies  woidd  be  unsuccessful.  At  one  period  during 
the  struggle,  so  much  were  the  fortunes  of  war  against 
them,  and  so  thick  was  the  gloom  which  overhung  all 
the  prospect,  that  even  leading  patriots  of  the  land 
were  not  without  despondency.  As  in  these  days,  so 
then,  the  record  of  events  w^as  tarnished  by  the  thirst 
for  power  and  the  grasp  after  wealth.  A  mercenary 
spirit,  extortion,  illicit  traffic  with  the  enemy,  gam- 
bling and  speculation,  idleness,  dissipation  and  extrava- 
gance, party  disputes  and  personal  quarrels,  —  these 
were  among  the  causes  which  jDrolonged  the  war,  and 
made  it  doubtful  whether  the  yoke  of  colonial  vassal- 
age would  finally  be  broken.  Washington  mourned, 
as  early  as  1775,  the  lack  of  public  virtue,  and  declared 
that  he  "trembled  at  the  prospect."  Good  and  esti- 
mable men  fell  into  indigence  and  obscurity,  while 
those  utterly  devoid  of  moral  principle  rose  to  wealth 
and  power.  It  was  a  miserable  pittance,  at  best,  al- 
lowed to  the   soldiers;  but  they  were  too  often  de- 


IN  CONNECTICUl.  333 

privecl  of  this,  that  contractors  for  the  army  might 
be  enriched  by  their  gains.  Merchants  and  traders 
monopoHzed  articles  of  prime  necessity,  and  would 
not  dispose  of  them  to  their  destitute  and  suffering 
countrymen,  and  to  the  wives  and  children  of  troops 
in  the  field,  except  at  enormous  profits. 

The  depreciation  of  the  currency  was  one  of  the 
evils  which  threatened  the  most  alarming  conse- 
quences. "Destitute  of  pecuniary  resources,  and  with- 
out the  power  of  imposing  direct  taxes.  Congress  had, 
early  in  the  war,  resorted  to  the  expedient  of  paper 
mone}^  For  a  time,  while  the  quantity  was  com- 
paratively small,  its  credit  was  good;  but  in  March, 
1780,  the  enormous  amount  of  two  hundred  millions 
of  dollars  had  been  issued,'no  part  of  which  had  been 
redeemed.  At  this  time  forty  paper  dollars  were 
worth  only  one  in  specie.  Prices  rose  as  the  money 
sank  in  value,  and  every  branch  of  trade  was  unsettled 
and  deranged.  The  effect  was  peculiarly  oppressive 
on  the  troops,  and  was  a  principal  reason  for  the  ex- 
orbitant bounties  allowed  to  them  in  the  latter  years 
of  the  war.  The  separate  States  issued  paj)er  money, 
which  increased  the  evil,  without  affording  any  ade- 
quate relief  The  only  remedy  was  taxation;  but 
this  was  seldom  pursued  with  vigor,  owing,  in  part, 
to  the  distracted  state  of  the  times  and  the  exhausted 
condition  of  the  country,  and  in  part,  also,  to  State 
jealousy."^ 

In  some  colonies  the  Whigs  were  a  minoritv,  and 
in  others  they  were  balanced  by  their  opponents;  and 
though  unsuccessful  in  securing  sufficient  enlistments, 
many  of  them  became  impatient,  and  demanded  that 

1  Sparks's  Life  of  WashiiKjIon,  Vol.  I.  p.  322. 


334  HISTORY   OF    THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

the  Commander-in-Chief  should  meet  and  fight  the 
foe,  without  troops,  without  suppHes,  and,  at  times, 
without  their  confidence  and  sympathy.  Strong  men 
not  unfrequently  enhsted  for  the  large  bounties,  and 
then  deserted  and  reenlisted  under  new  recruiting 
officers,  or  else  escaped  to  their  homes  and  were  shel- 
tered and  secreted  by  their  unpatriotic  friends  and 
neighbors.  A  want  of  pure  and  disinterested  love  of 
independence  showed  itself  also  among  the  military 
commanders ;  and  Knox,  in  writing  to  Eibridge  Gerry, 
mentioned  that  there  were  those  in  commission  "who 
wished  to  have  their  power  perpetuated  at  the  expense 
of  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  who  had  been  re- 
warded with  rank  without  having  the  least  preten- 
sions to  it  except  cabal  and  intrigue."  "Many  of  the 
surgeons,"  (regimental,)  said  Washington,  using  harsher 
words  than  he  was  wont,  "are  very  great  rascals, 
countenancing  the  men  to  sham  complaints  to  exempt 
them  from  duty,  and  often  receiving  bribes  to  certify 
indispositions,  with  a  view  to  ]3rocure  discharges  or 
furloughs."-^  Nearly  a  score  of  generals  withdrew 
from  the  army  for  different  reasons  during  the  prog- 
ress of  the  struggle;  some  being  jealous  on  account 
of  their  rank,  and  stung  with  resentment  at  what  they 
conceived  to  be  the  wrongs  done  them  by  Congress 
or  their  associates  in  the  service.  John  Adams  threw 
from  his  pen  a  graphic  and  comprehensive  descrip- 
tion, when  he  said,  in  1777,  "I  am  wearied  to  death 
with  the  wrangles  between  military  officers,  high  and 
low.  They  quarrel  like  cats  and  dogs.  They  worry 
one  another  like  mastiffs,  scrambling  for  rank  and 
pay  like  apes  for  nuts." 

1  Sparks's  Life  of  Washington,  Vol.  IV.  p.  116. 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  335 

This  is  the  dark  side  of  the  picture,  unpleasant  in- 
deed to  contemplate,  and  seldom  looked  at  by  the 
writers  and  eloquent  speakers,  who  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  deify  the  heroes  and  patriots  of  the  Revo- 
lution, and  to  anathematize  the  Loyalists,  or  those 
who  manifested  any  sympathy  with  the  cherished 
Government  of  the  King  and  the  triumph  of  his 
armies.  All  honor  is  due  to  the  sagacious  statesmen 
who  published  to  the  world  the  grievances  of  the  col- 
onies, and  the  grounds  on  which  they  had  a  right  to 
become  a  free  and  independent  nation.  All  honor  is 
due  to  the  valiant  and  persevering  men,  who,  in  the 
darkest  hour,  and  amid  the  severest  trials,  still  hoped 
for  success,  and  struggled  on,  undaunted  by  defeats 
and  undismayed  by  disasters.  But  the  truth  of  his- 
tory demands  that  it  should  be  stated  how  the  Tories 
were  not  the  only  wicked  and  unpatriotic  people  dur- 
ing the  war  of  the  Revolution.  Without  presuming 
to  justify  their  course  at  that  period,  it  is  no  wonder 
that  they  adopted  it  when  they  saw  so  much  around 
them  to  impede  the  effort  of  the  colonists,  when  the 
scale  was  so  evenly  balanced,  and  the  prospect  of  final 
independence  so  distant  and  gloomy.  They  were 
undoubtedly  honest  in  their  loyalty  to  the  British 
Crown,  not  less  honest  and  sincere,  perhaps,  than  the 
people  of  the  North  in  the  recent  civil  contest  to 
maintain  the  federal  Union  and  the  integrity  of  our 
constitutional  form  of  government.  The  God  of 
providence,  to  whom  "  the  nations  are  as  a  drop  of 
a  bucket,"  who  "givetli  power  to  the  faint,  and  to 
them  that  have  no  might  he  increaseth  knowledge," 
controlled  the  destiny  of  the  American  people;  but 
as  far  as  human  foresight  can  discern,  the  issue  of 


336  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

the  struggle  was  due  as  much  to  the  bUmders  and 
perversities  of  the  British  ministry  as  to  the  skill  and 
strategy  of  our  generals,  or  the  bravery  and  fortitude 
of  our  soldiery.  Had  not  England  become  involved 
in  war  with  other  nations  on  the  continent  of  Europe, 
and  thus  needed  all  her  troops  nearer  home;  had  not 
France  interposed  the  aid  of  her  great  power  to  succor 
a  weak  and  weary  people,  George  the  Third  might 
have  conquered  the  colonies,  and  held  them  subjected 
to  his  sway,  at  least  for  another  generation. 

It  may  be  said,  then,  by  way  of  apology  for  the 
course  of  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  in  Con- 
necticut, that,  in  spite  of  all  their  perils  and  sufferings, 
they  were  not  disposed  to  forfeit  their  stipends  from 
the  Society,  to  violate  their  consciences  and  com- 
pletely surrender  their  hopes,  while  the  struggle  was 
still  undecided,  and  the  prospect  for  the  colonists  so 
doubtful.  Those  who  survived  or  remained  undis- 
turbed among  their  people  had,  by  this  time,  yielded 
to  the  necessities  of  their  condition,  and  ceased  to 
pray  in  their  reopened  churches  for  the  King  and 
Royal  family.  Whatever  their  private  opinions  may 
have  been,  they  continued  patiently  in  the  path  of 
duty,  and  "spake  often  one  to  another,"  because  they 
"feared  the  Lord."  They  proclaimed  to  their  dimin- 
ished flocks  the  unchangeable  truths  of  the  Gospel, 
and  avoided  allusion  in  public  to  subjects  that  might 
create  prejudice  or  excite  popular  resentment. 

As  the  war  drew  towards  the  close,  Connecticut  be- 
came the  theatre  of  greater  horrors;  and  one  of  the 
saddest  and  bloodiest  chapters  in  its  whole  history, 
if  not  in  the  history  of  the  world,  was  that  which  oc- 
curred shortly  before  the  preUminaries  of  peace  were 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  337 

announced.  The  heats  of  summer  had  not  yet  passed 
away,  when  an  expedition,  fitted  out  at  New  York, 
the  headquarters  of  Sir  Henry  CHnton  and  the  Brit- 
ish army,  was  sent  to  New  London,  under  the  com- 
mand of  that  traitor  to  his  countrj^'s  cause,  Benedict 
Arnold.  He  had  been  famihar,  in  his  boyhood,  with 
the  locahty  where  he  was  to  operate;  for  Norwich, 
some  miles  above  on  the  Thames  River,  was  the  place 
where  he  had  served  an  apprenticeship  to  the  business 
of  a  druggist,  occasioning  his  friends  in  that  employ- 
ment more  trouble  than  satisfaction.  Late  in  the 
evening  of  September  5th,  1781,  he  landed  his  troops 
in  two  divisions,  one  on  each  side  of  the  harbor,  below 
Forts  Trumbull  and  Griswold,  and  immediately  put 
them  in  motion.  The  astonished  inhabitants,  aroused 
from  their  slumbers  by  the  signals  of  distress,  were 
thrown  into  the  utmost  terror  and  confusion,  and 
hastened  to  convey  to  safe  places  their  families  and 
their  portable  and  most  valuable  property.  The  half- 
armed  groups  that  offered  resistance  on  the  morrow 
to  the  advance  of  a  disciplined  foe  were  soon  dis- 
persed, and  the  torch  of  destruction  was  applied, 
tinder  the  orders  of  the  commanding  General,  first 
in  one  street  and  then  in  another,  until  a  large  part 
of  New  London  was  in  flames.  Amono;  the  buildinocs 
consumed  were  sixty-five  dwellings,  thirty-one  stores 
and  warehouses,  eighteen  shojDS,  twenty  barns,  the 
Episcopal  church,  court-house,  jail,  market  and  custom- 
house. Whigs  and  Tories  alike  suffered  in  tliis  con- 
flagration, which  appears  to  have  been  more  exten- 
sive than  was  at  first  designed,  —  a  conflagration,  how- 
ever, that  was  nothing  in  horror  compared  with  the 
tragic  scenes  enacted  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river. 

22 


338  HISTORY  OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

Groton  was  burnt  also,  and  the  little  garrison  in  Fort 
Griswold,  which  stood  heroically  to  its  guns  and  kept 
the  enemy  for  a  time  at  bay,  was  finally  forced  to  sur- 
render; but,  whether  from  mistake  or  misunderstand- 
ing, the  surrender  had  no  influence  in  checking  the 
rage  of  the  assailants;  for  an  indiscriminate  massacre 
followed,  which  the  pen  of  history  shudders  to  record. 
According  to  the  inscription  upon  the  monument, 
erected  under  the  patronage  of  the  State  in  1830  to 
the  memory  of  the  patriotic  garrison,  this  massacre, 
wdtli  the  other  barbarities  of  the  expedition,  "spread 
desolation  and  woe  throughout  that  region." 

We  have  seen  on  several  occasions  that  the  inter- 
ests of  Connecticut  churchmen,  during  the  Revolu- 
tion, were  involved  in  the  common  destruction  which 
war  makes.  Three  of  their  largest  and  oldest  houses 
of  worship  were  burnt  by  the  very  invaders  whose 
cause  they  were  believed  secretly  to  uphold,  and 
others  only  echoed  at  distant  intervals  the  sounds  of 
prayer  and  praise.  But  while  they  thus  suffered  at 
the  hands  of  their  friends  from  the  unavoidable  con- 
sequences of  war,  they  were  none  the  less  the  victims 
of  persecution  by  their  too  impetuous  neighbors;  and 
besides  the  odium  which  attached  to  them  as  Tories, 
they  were  subjected  to  all  manner  of  threats  and  an- 
noyances, and  to  petty  depredations  upon  their  prop- 
erty, without  having  the  power  successfully  to  estab- 
lish their  rights  or  redress  their  grievances.  It  is  a 
foul  blot  upon  the  patriotism  of  the  times  that  these 
things  were  anywhere  encouraged.  It  revives  the 
memory  of  the  period  when  religious  intolerance  was 
ready  to  drive  from  New  England  the  Church  that 
had  a  Bishop,  and  to  allow  nothing  here,  in  the  "free- 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  339 

dom  to  worship  God,"  which  did  not  think  and  coalesce 
with  Puritanism. 

The  Connecticut  clergy,  for  integrity  of  character, 
earnest  piety,  and  steady  devotion  to  the  duties  of 
their  vocation,  were  unsurpassed  by  any  body  of  their 
order  in  all  the  colonies.  With  the  exception  of 
Graves  and  Sayre,  who  had  now  retired  for  protection 
within  the  lines  of  the  British  army,  and  who,  it  must 
be  confessed,  were  sometimes  guilty  of  indiscretions, 
they  were  natives  of  the  soil,  prudent  in  speech,  fa- 
miliar with  the  habits  of  the  people,  and  therefore 
knowing  how  to  take  advantage  of  their  hereditary 
antipathies  and  resentments.  If  there  were  a  few 
instances  Avhere  the  flocks  were  more  patriotic  than 
their  f)astors,  the  reason  for  this  might  be  found  in 
the  difference  of  their  relations  to  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel;  biit  it  speaks  well  for  the 
influence  and  Christian  character  of  the  clergy  in  those 
days,  that  their  congregations  so  generally  s\Tnpa- 
thized  with  them  in  their  views  both  of  religious  and 
civil  duties.  The  single  object  perpetually  before  their 
minds  was,  how  to  save  the  Church  from  utter  ruin; 
and  while  they  had  abundant  reasons  to  complain 
of  the  course  pursued  by  the  home  Government,  still 
they  would  neither  leave  the  communion  to  which 
they  were  attached  unguarded,  nor  seek  any  refuge 
for  themselves  which  might  involve  its  doctrines  and 
Liturgy  in  greater  peril.  With  all  their  faults,  they 
deserve  to  be  remembered  with  gratitude  by  Connec- 
ticut churchmen,  for  the  impress  of  their  teachings 
has  outlasted  the  changes  which  time  produces  in 
human  society  and  civil  government.  Anderson,  after 
giving  a  detailed  account  of  the  revival  of  reverence 


340  HISTORr   OF  THE    EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

and  affection  in  many  of  the  people  of  the  colony 
towards  the  Church  which  their  fathers  had  forsaken, 
pays  this  grateful  tribute  to  the  memory  of  these  anti- 
Revolutionary  clergy:  — 

"I  will  not  venture  to  give  expression  to  tlie  feel- 
ings which  I  have  experienced  in  relating  the  various 
incidents  contained  in  this  chapter,  and  which  the  at- 
tentive reader  can  hardly  fail  to  share.  That  which 
prevails  over  every  other  at  the  present  moment,  and 
which  alone  I  wish  to  leave  on  record,  is  the  feeling 
of  deepest  gratitude  to  those  men  of  Connecticut 
who,  not  from  a  mere  hereditary  attachment  to  the 
Church  of  England,  or  indolent  acquiescence  in  her 
teaching,  but  from  a  deep,  abiding  conviction  of  the 
truth  that  she  is  a  fliithful  'witness  and  keeper  of 
Holy  Writ,'  have  shown  to  her  ministers,  in  every  age 
and  country,  the  way  in  which  they  can  best  promote 
the  glory  of  their  heavenly  Master's  name,  and  en- 
large the  borders  of  His  Kingdom.  And,  as  for  the 
hinderances  cast  in  their  path  by  the  policy  of  secular 
rulers  at  home,  let  us  now  only  think  of  them  in  con- 
trast with  the  willing  readiness,  Avhich  we  have  seen 
exhibited  by  statesmen  of  all  parties  in  our  own  day, 
to  strengthen  the  hands  and  increase  the  efficiency, 
abroad  and  at  home,  of  the  Church  of  which  they  are 
members."^ 

It  was  a  maxim  with  Dr.  Franklin,  that  tliere  never 
was  a  good  tvar,  or  a  had  peace,  and  much  as  he  loved 
and  promoted  the  cause  of  the  American  colonies,  he 
watched  every  opportunity,  as  a  favorite  Commissioner 
at  the  French  court,  that  betokened  a  willingness  to 
enter  into  negotiations  and  terminate  hostilities.    The 

1  Anderson's  Colonial  Church.,  Vol.  HI.  pp.  444,  445. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.      .  341 

alliance  of  France  with  America,  in  her  struggle  for 
independence  and  sovereignty,  embarrassed  the  Brit- 
ish Government;  and  after  Lord  Cornwallis  with  his 
army  had  been  captured  at  Yorktown,  and  the  min- 
istry was  unable  to  replace  these  troops  for  another 
campaign,  the  Parliament  began  to  turn  its  attention 
seriously  to  the  subject  of  peace.  The  public  senti- 
ment of  the  English  nation,  clamorous  for  the  end, 
had  connnunicated  itself  to  that  bodj',  and  a  motion, 
made  early  in  1782,  that  an  address  should  be  pre- 
sented to  His  Majesty,  praying  that  the  war  in  Amer- 
ica might  cease,  and  that  measures  should  be  taken 
for  restoring  tranquillity  and  producing  a  reconcilia- 
tion, gave  rise  to  an  animated  debate  on  both  sides; 
but  the  motion  was  finally  lost  hy  a  majority  of  only 
one  in  favor  of  the  ministry  and  for  the  continuance 
of  the  war.  This  vote  was  the  signal  for  a  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Cabinet;  and  the  resignation  of  Lord  North 
was  followed  by  a  total  change  of  ministry  and  meas- 
ures. Franklin  had  learned  before  this,  from  his 
friend,  Mr.  Hartley,  a  member  of  Parliament,  long 
evincing  a  steady  and  kind  regard  for  the  welfare  of 
America,  the  temper  of  the  Crown ;  and  the  Congress 
of  the  Colonies  had  aj^pointed  three  other  Commis- 
sioners (Adams,  Jay,  and  Laurens)  to  join  him  in 
negotiating  a  treaty  of  peace.  The  first  gleam  of 
joy  at  the  prospect  of  this  propitious  event  appeared 
in  our  land  when  Sir  Guy  Carleton  arrived  at  New 
York  earlj'^  in  May,  to  relieve  General  Clinton  as  com- 
mander of  the  British  armies  in  America.  The  pacific 
tone  of  his  first  letter  to  Washington  showed,  at  least, 
a  change  in  the  sentiments  of  Parliament  respecting 
the  principles  on  which  the  war  had  been  conducted 


342  HISTORY  OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

and  the  policy  of  its  continuance;  but  when  in  the 
beginning  of  August  he  again  addressed  the  Ameri- 
can chief,  it  was  with  the  authority  to  notify  him 
that  negotiations  for  a  general  peace  had  commenced 
at  Paris,  and  that  the  independence  of  the  Thirteen 
Colonies  w^ould  be  conceded  as  a  preliminary  step; 
''however  not  without  the  highest  confidence,"  on  the 
part  of  his  Government,  "that  the  LoyaUsts  should  be 
restored  to  their  possessions,  or  a  full  compensation 
made  to  them  for  v/hatever  confiscations  may  have 
taken  place."  Preparations  for  war,  therefore,  ceased 
from  that  time,  and  no  further  acts  of  hostility  were 
committed  by  either  party.  But  since  it  was  not  cer- 
tain that  the  negotiations  Avould  actually  result  in 
peace,  no  part  of  the  American  army  was  disbanded, 
and  the  posture  of  defence  was  maintained  with  the 
same  caution  and  vigilance  as  before. 

The  settlement  of  so  many  questions,  involving,  be- 
sides the  two  great  belligerents,  the  rights  and  tran- 
quillity of  France,  Spain,  and  Holland,  prolonged  the 
negotiations,  and  the  summer  and  the  autumn  had 
passed  away  before  the  fundamental  articles  of  a 
definitive  treaty  were  agreed  upon  and  a  time  for 
signing  fixed.  One  preliminary  point  sought  to  be 
established  by  the  British  envoys  was  to  obtain  com- 
pensation for  the  Loyalists,  or  Tories,  wdiose  property 
had  been  confiscated,  and  many  of  whom  had  been 
banished  from  the  country.  But  Dr.  Franklin  dis- 
carded this  idea  most  emphatically,  and  insisted  that 
Congress,  whose  agents  they  were,  had  no  power  to 
act  in  the  case,  since  the  property  of  the  Loyalists 
had  been  confiscated  by  the  States,  and  the  remedy, 
if  any,  must  be  sought  from  the  States.     He  went 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  343 

farther,  and  maintained  that  neither  justice  nor  hu- 
manity required  that  the  Americans  should  compen- 
sate these  people,  for  "they  had  been  the  instruments 
of  promoting  and  aggravating  some  of  the  worst  hor- 
rors of  the  war:  they  had  taken  the  lead  in  burning 
towns,  and  plundering  and  distressing  the  inhabitants; 
they  had  deserted  their  country's  cause,  and  sacrificed 
everything  to  their  friendship  for  their  country's  foe; 
and  if  they  were  to  be  indemnified  by  anybody,  it 
must  be  by  their  friends."  ^ 

We  have  seen  that,  as  far  as  the  loyal  churchmen 
of  Connecticut  were  concerned,  this  allegation  was 
untrue.  Instead  of  "  taking  the  lead  in  burning  towns, 
and  plundering  and  distressing  the  mhabitants,"  they 
lamented  these  cruelties,  and  when  they  were  inflicted 
upon  the  colony  through  the  operation  of  the  King's 
troops,  they  suflfered  from  them  in  common  with  the 
most  ardent  Whigs.  An  article,  however,  was  finally 
inserted,  by  which  it  was  made  the  duty  of  Congress 
to  recommend  to  the  States  an  indemnification  of  the 
Loyalists;  but  it  was  declared,  at  the  same  time,  that 
there  was  not  the  least  probabiUty  that  the  States 
would  heed  the  recommendation.  The  treaty  of  peace 
was  signed  at  Paris  by  both  parties  in  due  form,  on 
the  30th  day  of  November,  1782,  approved  and  rati- 
fied by  Congress,  and  hailed  with  demonstrations  of 
gratitude  and  joy  by  the  American  nation.  The  one 
great  prize  for  which  the  contest  had  been  so  long 
maintained  was  now  won,  and  the  future  glory  of  the 
United  States  rose  upon  the  vision  of  many  a  patriot 
in  colors  almost  too  bright  to  be  realized.  The  election 
sermon  of  President  Stiles,  delivered  before  the  Gen- 

1  Sparks's  Life  of  Franklin,  p.  486. 


344  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

eral  Assembly  of  Connecticut,  May,  1783,  and  printed 
by  the  order  of  that  body,  contains  this  grandiloquent 
passage:  "0  Peace,  thou  welcome  guest,  all  hail! 
Thou  heavenly  visitant,  calm  the  tumult  of  nations, 
wave  thy  balmy  wing  to  perpetuity  over  this  region 
of  liberty !  Let  there  be  a  tranquil  period  for  the  un- 
molested accomplishment  of  the  Magnolia  Dei, — the 
great  events  in  God's  moral  government  designed 
from  eternal  ages  to  be  displayed  in  these  ends  of 
the  earth." 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  345 


CHAPTER  XXYI.    • 

CONDITION  OF  THE  CHURCH  IN  CONNECTICUT  AT  THE  CJ-OSE 
OF  THE  WAR;  MEETING  OF  THE  CLERGY  AT  "WOODBURY, 
AND  DR.  SEABURY  PREVAILED  UPON  TO  GO  TO  ENGLAND 
FOR  CONSECRATION;  WITHDRAWAL  OF  MISSIONARIES  AND 
LOYALISTS   TO   THE  BRITISH  PROVINCES. 

A.  D.    1783-1784. 

The  Revolution,  which  had  been  a  "bridge  of  sighs" 
to  the  Church  in  Connecticut,  was  passed,  but  thick 
gloom  overhung  the  immediate  prospects  of  the  Mis- 
sionaries. For  the  same  sword  which  severed  the  col- 
onies from  the  British  realm  had  cut  the  bond  of  de- 
pendence that  united  them  to  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  and  they  were  thrown  for 
their  Avhole  support  upon  the  poor,  thinned,  and  broken 
parishes.  The  charter  of  the  Society  Hmited  the  sup- 
port of  Missions  to  plantations,  colonies,  and  factories 
belonging  to  the  kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  and  the 
formal  recognition  of  the  United  States  as  a  sovereign 
and  independent  power  forbade  the  continuance  of 
the  stipends  to  the  clergy  in  this  country.  The  lega- 
cies bequeathed  in  England  to  establish  an  American 
Episcopate  were  also  lost,  and  it  was  yet  a  question 
whether  the  lands  in  different  States,  designed  for  the 
use  of  the  Church,  would  inure  to  its  benefit. 

The  clergy  of  Connecticut  Avere  thus  left  by  the 
treaty  of  peace  in  great  difficulty  and  embarrassment, 
and   man}^   of  their   impoverished  people,  who  had 


346  HISTORY  OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

finnly  supported  the  cause  of  the  Crown,  were  in 
doubt  what  course  to  pursue  to  retrieve  their  fortunes 
or  provide  for  their  families.  Of  the  Missionaries  who 
were  faithfully  serving  their  flocks  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war,  Peters,  Graves,  and  Sayre,  more  indiscreet 
than  others,  had  fled, — the  first  to  England,  the  latter 
two  within  the  lines  of  the  British  army;  the  unfor- 
tunate Leaming,  after  the  burning  of  his  church  and 
property  at  Norwalk,  had  retired  to  New  York,  look- 
ing still  in  sorrowful  hope  towards  the  land  of  his 
nativity;  and  Kneeland  and  Beach  had  descended  to 
the  grave ;  but  the  rest,  Andrews,  Bostwick  of  Great 
Barrington,  Clark,  Dibblee,  Fogg,  Hubbard,  Jarvis, 
Mansfield,  Marshall,  Newton,  Nichols,  Scovill,  Tyler, 
and  A'^iets,  were  still  in  connection  with  their  parishes, 
and  ten  of  them,  rallying  from  all  discouragement,  met 
at  Woodbury  in  the  last  week  of  March  following  the 
publication  of  peace,  to  deliberate  upon  the  affairs  of 
the  Church,  and  organize  for  the  future.  Like  the 
other  colonies,  Connecticut  was  under  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Bishop  of  London  up  to  this  time ;  but  no 
sooner  had  peace  been  declared  and  independence  of 
the  mother-country  acknowledged,  than  she  made  the 
first  movement  to  secure  what  had  hitherto  been  so 
ungraciously  denied.  The  meeting  was  "kept  a  pro- 
found secret,  even  from  their  most  intimate  friends  of 
the  laity;"  and  it  was  so  quietly  held  that  no  minutes 
of  it  were  made  and  published.  But  the  contempo- 
rary correspondence  of  Mr.  Fogg  of  Brooklyn  with  a 
clergyman  of  Massachusetts  gives  the  number  pres- 
ent, and  indicates  the  fear  which  was  felt  of  reviving 
the  former  opposition  to  an  American  Episcopate,  and 
thus  of  defeating  their  plan  to  complete  the  organi- 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  347 

zation  of  the  Church,  and  provide  for  its  inherent  per- 
petuity in  this  country.  They  went  into  no  such 
fonnal  election  of  a  Bishop  as  takes  phice  in  these 
days.  The  question  with  them  appears  not  to  have 
been  so  much  a  choice  between  candidates,  as  who 
will  go  upon  this  mission  for  a  mitre,  which  was 
likely  to  be  attended  with  more  sacrifice  than  emolu- 
ment, more  trial  than  honor.  "Deeply  impressed 
with  anxious  apprehension  of  what  might  be  the  fate 
of  the  Church  in  America,"  they  deputed  their  Sec- 
retary (Mr.  Jarvis)  to  proceed  to  New  York  and 
"consult  such  of  the  clergy  there  as  they  thought 
prudent  on  the  subject,  and  to  procure  their  concur- 
rence. He  was  also  directed,"  says  Seabury  in  a  letter 
to  the  Venerable  Society,  written  at  a  later  date,  "to 
try  to  prevail  on  Rev.  Mr.  Leaming  or  me  to  under- 
take a  voyage  to  England,  and  endeavor  to  obtain 
Episcopal  consecration  for  Connecticut.  Mr.  Leaming 
declined  on  account  of  his  age  and  infirmities;  and 
the  clergy  who  were  consulted  by  Mr.  Jarvis  gave  it 
as  their  decided  opinion  that  I  ought,  in  duty  to  the 
Church,  to  comply  with  the  request  of  the  Connec- 
ticut clergy.  Though  I  foresaw  many  and  great  dif- 
ficidties  in  the  way,  yet,  as  I  hoped  they  might  all  be 
overcome,  and  as  Mr.  Jarvis  had  no  instruction  to 
make  the  proposal  to  any  one  besides,  and  was,  with 
the  other  clergy,  of  opinion  the  design  would  drop  if 
I  declined  it,  I  gave  my  consent" 

Though  born  in  the  colony,  and  a  graduate  of  Yale 
College,  Seabury  had  exercised  no  part  of  his  ministry 
in  Connecticut.  His  father  had  been  a  Missionary  of 
the  Church  of  England  at  New  London  for  ten  years; 
but  the  son  had  found  the  fields  of  his  labor  in  New  Jer- 


348         HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

sey,  on  Long  Island,  and  in  Westchester,  N.  Y.,  and,  as 
already  stated,  for  a  brief  time,  during  the  Revolution- 
ary war,  he  was  "in  duress  vile,"  in  his  native  State,  for 
active  hostility  to  the  measures  of  the  Congressional 
government.  Objections  were  made  to  him  on  this  ac- 
count, and  on  the  ground  of  his  being  a  refugee ;  but 
they  were  all  overruled,  and  he  was  the  second  choice 
of  the  clergy  of  Connecticut  to  become  their  apostolic 
head,  and  early  in  June,  1783,  he  set  sail  for  England  to 
seek  the  accomplishment  of  their  wishes,  bearing  with 
him  such  credentials  as  could  be  most  readily  obtained. 
Among  these  was  the  letter  of  the  clergy  to  the 
Archbishop  of  York, — the  see  of  Canterbury  being  va- 
cant,— written  in  their  behalf  by  Abraham  Jarvis,  who 
dated  it  at  New  York,  and  signed  himself  "Minister 
of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Middletown,  and  Secre- 
tary of  the  Convention."  After  mentioning  that  "the 
establishment  of  an  American  Episcopate  had  long 
been  an  object  of  anxious  concern  to  them  and  to 
many  of  their  brethren  in  other  parts  of  this  conti- 
nent," they  proceeded  to  recite:  "The  attainment  of 
this  object  appears  to  have  been  hitherto  obstructed 
by  considerations  of  a  political  nature,  which  we  con 
ceive  were  founded  in  groundless  jealousies  and  mis- 
apprehensions that  can  no  longer  be  supposed  to  ex- 
ist; and  therefore,  whatever  may  be  the  effect  of 
independency  on  this  country  in  other  respects,  we 
presume  it  will  be  allowed  to  open  a  door  for  renew- 
ing the  application  which  we  consider  as  not  only  sea- 
sonable, but  more  than  ever  necessary  at  this  time; 
because,  if  it  be  now  any  longer  neglected,  there  is 
reason  to  apprehend  that  a  plan  of  a  very  extraor- 
dmary  nature,  lately  formed  and  published  in  Phila- 


IN    CONNECTICUT.  349 

delphia,  may  be  carried  into  execution.  This  plan  is, 
in  brief,  to  constitute  a  nominal  Episcopate  by  the 
united  suffrages  of  presbyters  and  laymen.^  The  pe- 
culiar situation  of  the  Episcopal  churches  in  Amer- 
ica, and  the  necessity  of  adopting  some  speedy  remedy 
for  the  want  of  a  regular  Episcopate,  are  oftered,  in 
the  publication  alluded  to,  as  reasons  fully  sufficient 
to  justify  the  scheme.  Whatever  influence  this  pro- 
ject may  have  on  the  minds  of  the  ignorant  or  unprin- 
cipled part  of  the  laity,  or  however  it  may,  possibly, 
be  countenanced  by  some  of  the  clergy  in  other  parts 
of  the  country,  tve  think  it  our  duty  to  reject  such  a 
spurious  substitute  for  Episcopacy,  and,  as  far  as  may 
be  in  our  power,  to  prevent  its  taking  effect. 

"To  lay  the  foundation,  therefore,  for  a  valid  and 
regular  Episcopate  in  America,  we  earnestly  entreat 
your  Grace,  that,  in  your  Archiepiscopal  character, 
you  will  espouse  the  cause  of  our  sinking  Church,  and 
at  this  important  crisis  afford  her  that  relief  on  which 
her  very  existence  depends,  by  consecrating  a  Bishop 

1  The  author  of  tliis  plan  was  the  Rev.  William  Wiiito,  (afterwards 
Bishop  WHiite,)  and,  without  retracting  its  leading  sentiments,  he  spoke  of 
it  some  years  later  in  his  Memoirs  of  the  Prolextant  Ejiiscopal  Church  thus: 
"  Soon  after  the  puhlieation  of  the  pamphlet,  the  author  found  himself  in 
danger  of  being  involved  in  a  dispute  with  the  clergy  of  Connecticut,  in 
the  name  of  whom,  assembled  in  Convention,  their  Secretary,  the  Rev. 
Abraham  Jarvis,  addressed  a  letter  complaining  of  the  performance,  al- 
though doubtless  mistaking  the  object  of  it.  The  letter  was  answered,  it 
is  hoped,  in  a  friendly  manner,  and  there  the  matter  ended.  The  same 
Convention,  in  an  address  sent  by  them  to  the  Archbishop  of  York,  al- 
luded to  the  pamphlet  as  evidence  of  a  design  entertained  to  set  up  an 
Episcopacy  on  the  ground  of  presbyterial  and  lay  authority.  No  per- 
sonal animosity  became  the  result  of  this  misapprehension ;  and  other 
events  have  manifested  consent  in  all  matters  essential  to  ecclesiastical 
discipline."  The  pamphlet  was  published  before  the  acknowledgment  of 
independence.  —  Bishop  White's  Memoir.'^,  p.  90. 


350  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

for  Connecticut.  The  person  whom  we  have  pre- 
vailed upon  to  offer  himself  to  your  Grace  for  that 
purpose,  is  the  Reverend  Doctor  Samuel  Seahury}  who 
has  been  the  Society's  worthy  Missionary  for  many 
years.  He  was  born  and  educated  in  Connecticut; 
he  is  personally  known  to  us,  and  we  believe  him  to 
be  every  way  well  qualified  for  the  Episcopal  ofhce, 
and  for  the  discharge  of  those  duties  peculiar  to  it  in 
the  present  trying  and  dangerous  times." 

The  letter  of  the  Connecticut  clergy  was  supported 
by  the  united  testimonial  of  Leaming,  Charles  Inglis, 
Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  Benjamin  Moore, 
his  Assistant  Minister,  and  others.  They  added  a 
separate  communication  to  the  Archbishop,  enforcing 
the  claims  of  the  candidate,  and  expressing  their 
earnest  wishes  for  the  success  of  his  undertaking,  "In 
humble  confidence,"  said  they,  "that  your  Grace  will 
consider  the  object  of  this  application  as  a  measure 
worthy  of  your  zealous  patronage,  we  beg  leave  to 
remind  your  Grace,  that  several  legacies  have  been, 
at  different  times,  bequeathed  for  the  support  of 
Bishops  in  America,  and  to  express  our  hopes  that 
some  part  of  these  legacies,  or  of  the  interest  arising 
from  them,  may  be  appropriated  to  the  maintenance 
of  Doctor  Seabury,  in  case  he  is  consecrated  and 
settles  in  America.  We  conceive  that  the  separation 
of  this  country  from  the  parent  State  can  be  no  rea- 
sonable bar  to  such  appropriation,  nor  invalidate  the 
title  of  American  Bishops,  who  derive  their  consecra- 
tion from  the  Church  of  England,  to  the  benefit  of 
those  legacies.     And,  perhaps,  this   charitable  assist- 

1  The  University  of  Oxford  conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Divinity,  December  15,  1777. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  351 

ance  is  now  more  necessary  than  it  would  have  been 
had  not  the  empire  been  dismembered." 

Dr.  Seabury  arrived  in  London  on  the  7th  of  July; 
and,  leaving  him  there  to  contend  with  unexpected 
discouragements,  to  overcome,  if  possible,  the  ob- 
stacles which  rose  in  his  path  and  checked  the  ad- 
vancement of  his  purpose,  let  us  return  to  examine 
the  condition  and  prospects  of  the  clergy  and  their 
parishes  in  Connecticut. 

During  the  progress  of  the  struggle  it  was  not  easy, 
perhaps,  to  distinguish  between  those  conscientious 
and  pure  minded  men  who  from  religious  principle 
adhered  to  the  cause  of  the  Crown,  and  that  corrupt 
and  base  class  whose  loyalty  consisted  in  fleeing 
from  danger,  in  abusing  their  own  country  and  the 
true  patriots  who  were  shaping  its  destiny.  But  if 
the  tennination  of  the  war  could  not  have  been  fol- 
lowed by  an  oblivion  of  its  offences,  the  bitterness  of 
the  triumphant  party  ought  at  least  to  have  abated, 
and  acts  of  proscription  and  banishment  should  have 
been  immediately  repealed.  "At  the  peace,"  says 
Sabine,  "a  majority  of  the  Whigs  of  several  of  the 
States  committed  a  great  crime;"  and  he  cites  Mas- 
sachusetts, Virginia,  and  New  York,  as  "adopting 
measures  of  inexcusable  severity"  towards  the  hum- 
bled and  unhappy  Loyalists.  Instead  of  compen- 
sating them  for  their  losses,  as  recommended  in 
the  final  treaty,  a  disposition  was  evinced  to  make 
their  condition  uncomfortable,  and  to  place  them  be- 
yond the  pale  of  a  generous  sympathy.  Sir  Guy 
Carleton,  before  evacuating  New  York,  wrote  to  the 
President  of  Congress  that  the  Loyalists  "conceived 
the  safety  of  their  Uves  to  depend  on  his  removing 


352  HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

them;"  and  the  British  Government,  by  way  of  doing 
what  it  could  not  accompUsh  in  the  negotiations  for 
peace,  offered  them  inducements  to  withdraw  and 
settle  in  their  own  provinces  on  the  northern  front- 
iers. By  the  end  of  the  year  1783,  so  great  had 
been  the  emigration  to  the  British  territory,  that  not 
less  than  thirty  thousand  persons  from  New  York 
and  the  other  colonies  had  arrived  in  Nova  Scotia; 
and  about  one  third  of  these,  attracted  by  the  beauty 
and  security  of  the  harbor,  planted  themselves  at 
Shelburne,  and  soon  exhausted  their  means  in  build- 
ing a  town  where  nature  opposed  insuperable  barriers 
to  its  prosperity.  It  was  to  most  of  them  a  pitiful 
reverse  in  life;  and  we  are  told  that,  "on  their  first 
arrival,  lines  of  women  could  be  seen  sitting  on  the 
rocks  of  the  shore  and  weeping  at  their  altered  con- 
dition." ^ 

Among  the  thousands  thus  expatriated  were  some 
of  the  most  intelligent  and  highly  educated  people 
on  this  continent,  —  clergymen,  lawj^ers,  ph3^sicians, 
merchants,  artisans,  agriculturists.  The  change  to 
them  from  their  old  house-roofs  to  the  rigors  of  a 
severer  climate  and  the  straits  of  new  habitations  was 
anything  but  favorable,  and  many  a  grave  was  dug 
for  the  disappointed  exiles  before  the  first  winter  had 
passed  away.  Their  case  had  not  been  overlooked 
in  Parliament,  for  Burke,  Sheridan,  Wilberforce,  and 
others  lifted  up  their  voice  in  earnest  and  solemn  con- 
demnation of  that  part  of  the  treaty  which  delivered 
over  the  unfortunate  Loyalists  to  the  tender  mercies 
of  their  enemies,  "without  the  least  notice  taken  of 
their  civil  and  relio-ious  rio-hts."     One  nobleman  in  the 

o  o 

1  Hawkins,  p.  373. 


IN  CONNECTICUT,  353 

House  of  Lords  (Lord  Sackville)  regarded  their  "aban- 
donment as  a  thing  of  so  atrocious  a  kind,  that,  if  it 
had  not  been  ah-eady  painted  in  all  its  horrid  colors^ 
he  should  have  attempted  the  ungracious  task,  but 
never  should  have  been  able  to  describe  the  cruelty 
in  language  as  strong  and  expressive  as  were  his 
feelings." 

Connecticut,  to  her  praise  be  it  said,  did  not  share 
in  the  spirit  of  resentment  and  oppression  that  ap- 
peared elsewhere.  She  knew  very  well  that  the  Loy- 
alists within  her  borders  had  suffered  severely  during 
the  war  at  the  hands  of  their  friends ;  and  if  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  neglected  to  obey  the  recommendation 
of  Congress  and  restore  their  losses,  it  by  no  means 
followed  them  vnth.  the  rod  of  persecution.  But  they 
were  not  in  good  repute  with  the  public  authorities, 
and  scorn  was  likely  to  attend  many  of  them  for 
years  to  come.  Fearful  of  this,  and  lured  with  the 
prospect  of  retrieving  their  broken  fortunes  under  the 
Government  to  wdiich  they  had  given  their  sympa- 
thies, and  for  whose  triumph  they  had  secretly  j)rayed, 
large  numbers  of  churchmen,  with  their  pastors,  gath- 
ered up  their  personal  efiects  and  emigrated  to  Nova 
Scotia  and  the  adjoining  territory.  A  few  of  them 
afterwards  returned  and  renewed  here  their  interests 
and  their  business;  but  the  rest  remained,  and  with 
their  descendants  they  have  marked,  to  a  certain 
degree,  the  regions  where  they  settled  with  the  thrift 
of  New-England  enterprise.  The  clergy  who  had 
been  deprived  of  their  stipends  from  the  Society  by 
the  acknowledgment  of  American  independence,  were 
offered  new  Missions,  with  hicreased  salaries,  in  the 
British  Provinces,  besides  grants  of  land;  and  Viets 

23 


354  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

of  Simsbiiry,  who  had  served  his  people  so  accepta- 
bly for  nearly  twenty-eight  years,  amid  the  violence 
of  persecution  and  war,  was  one  of  the  number  to 
avail  himself  of  this  liberality.  He  delivered  "a  seri- 
ous Address  and  Farewell  Charge  to  the  members  of 
the  Church  of  England  in  Simsbury  and  the  adjacent 
parts,"  before  leaving,  which  was  afterwards  printed, 
and  in  which  he  stated:  "From  the  year  1759  to  the 
pxesent  time  [1787],  the  number  of  conformists  to  the 
Church  has  increased  from  seventy-five  to  more  than 
two  hundred  and  eighty  families,  exclusive  of  the 
many  that  have  emigrated  and  the  few  that  have 
apostatized." 

Andrews,  beloved  as  a  man  and  a  minister  in  the 
scene  of  his  nativity,  turned  his  face,  two  years  earlier, 
in  that  direction,  and  became  the  first  Rector  of  St. 
Andrew's  Church  in  the  parish  of  St.  Andrews,  New 
Brunswick.  ScovilV  his  neighbor  at  Waterbury,  con- 
trary to  the  wishes  and  entreaties  of  some  of  his 
friends,  dissolved  his  relations  with  his  parish,  and 
accepted  inviting  proposals  to  remove  into  the  same 
province.  And  then  Richard  Samuel  Clark  joined  his 
name  to  the  list  of  Missionaries  in  the  new  field,  and 
Nichols  relinquished  his  charge  and  withdrew  from 
the  State.  These  removals  of  people  and  priests  weak- 
ened the  already  feeble  parishes  in  Connecticut,  and 

1  "  In  1 785,  Mr.  Scovill,  ajrainst  the  advice  of  some  of  his  friends,  went 
to  New  Brunswick.  He  did  not,  however,  at  once  remove  his  family. 
For  three  successive  years  he  returned  and  officiated  in  the  winter  seasou 
in  his  old  church."  —  Bronson's  Hist,  of  Waterhurj/,  p.  302. 

The  same  remark  will  apply  in  a  measure  to  others.  The  Massachusetts 
Gazette  of  October  24th,  1786,  notes  the  arrival  of  a  vessel  at  New  Haven 
from  St.  John's,  New  Brunswick,  with  nearly  thirty  passengers,  "  amon^ 
whom  were  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Scovill,  Andrews,  and  Clark." 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  355 

it  required  all  the  zeal  and  firmness  of  those  who  were 
left  behind  to  keep  alive  the  headless  Church,  until, 
under  better  auspices,  its  order  and  Liturgy  might  be 
revised  and  adapted  to  the  new  form  of  civil  govern- 
ment. Hubbard  and  Jarvis,  two  friends  whose  inti- 
macy had  been  cemented  by  the  same  voyage  to  Eng- 
land for  Holy  Orders ;  Leaming  and  Dibblee,  Mansfield 
and  Marshall,  Newton,  Fogg,  and  Tyler,  with  some 
true-hearted  and  far-seeing  laymen,  strengthened  the 
things  that  remained,  and  besought  the  flocks  not 
to  scatter  or  become  despondent.  They  encouraged 
them  wdth  the  hope  of  returning  prosperity;  and  being 
all  men  of  irreproachable  character  in  private  life, 
their  influence  was  felt  and  their  admonitions  heeded. 
Seabury  wrote  from  London  in  May,  1784:  "There 
is  one  piece  of  intelligence  that  we  have  heard  from 
Nova  Scotia  that  gives  me  some  uneasiness,  namely, 
that  Messrs.  Andrews,  Hubbard,  and  Scovill  are  ex- 
pected in  Nova  Scotia  this  summer,  with  a  large  por- 
tion of  their  congregations.  This  intelligence  oper- 
ates against  me;  for  if  these  gentlemen  cannot,  or 
if  they  and  their  congregations  do  not  choose  to  stay 
in  Connecticut,  why  should  a  Bishop  go  there?  I 
answer:  One  reason  of  their  going  is  the  hope  of  en- 
joying their  religion  fully,  which  they  cannot  do  in 
Connecticut  without  a  Bishop." 

The  emigration  to  the  Provinces  was  checked;  and 
though  the  Loyalists  applied  to  Parliament  for  relief, 
and  the  King,  in  his  speech  from  the  throne,  recom- 
mended attention  to  their  claims,  and  pensions  and 
bounties  in  land  were  subsequently  allowed  to  chap- 
lains, officers,  and  soldiers  who  had  steadily  adhered 
to  the  Crown,  yet  the  fate  of  many  who  withdrew  was 
worse  than  if  they  had  hngered  behind  and  shared 


356  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

the  fortunes  of  their  friends  in  the  States.  Of  the 
clergy  who  were  scattered  by  the  poUtical  storms  of 
that  period,  none  suffered  greater  pecuniary  loss  than 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Inglis  of  New  York;  and  because  his  name 
has  frequently  appeared  in  the  course  of  our  researches, 
and  was  closely  linked  with  the  Church  in  Connecti- 
cut, it  is  proper,  before  closing  this  chapter,  to  recur 
to  him  again,  and  trace  a  page  of  his  later  history. 
Not  only  was  his  private  estate,  large  through  his 
wife,  confiscated,  but  he  was  compelled  also  to  aban- 
don his  Rectory;  and  in  this  misfortune  he  applied 
to  the  Venerable  Society  for  permission  to  accompany 
some  Loyalists  of  his  congregation  to  Annapolis,  Nova 
Scotia.  His  learning,  his  accomplishments,  and  his 
piety  shone  there  conspicuously  among  the  other 
Missionaries,  as  they  had  shone  in  the  scene  of  his 
former  labors ;  so  that,  to  use  the  words  of  Dr.  Butler, 
the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  in  his  Anniversary  Sermon 
before  the  Society  in  1784,  "An  infant  church  is 
rising,  under  the  favor  and  protection  of  Government, 
in  Nova  Scotia;  and  it  is  of  a  singular  description, 
consisting  of  honorable  exiles,  under  the  pastoral  care 
of  fellow-sufferers."  When  it  was  w^isely  determined 
to  erect  this  and  the  neighboring  British  Colonies 
into  a  See,  the  person  fixed  upon  to  fill  it  was  Dr. 
Chandler,^  that  resolute   champion  for  an  American 

1  The  clergy  of  New  York,  in  their  letter  to  the  Archbishop,  commend- 
ing to  his  regard  the  object  of  Dr.  Seabury's  visit,  added  :  "  We  take  this 
opportunity  to  inform  your  Grace,  that  we  have  consulted  liis  Excellency, 
Sir  Guy  Carleton,  on  the  subject  of  procuring  the  appointment  of  a  Bishop 
for  the  Province  of  Nova  Scotia,  on  which  he  has  expressed  to  us  his  en- 
tire approbation,  and  has  written  to  administration,  warmly  recommend- 
ing the  measure.  We  took  the  liberty,  at  the  same  time,  of  mentioning 
our  worthy  brother,  the  Rev.  Doctor  Thomas  B.  Chandler,  to  His  Excel- 
lency, as  a  person  every  way  qualified  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  Episco- 
pal office  in  that  Province  with  dignity  and  honor.    And  we  hope  for  Your 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  357 

Episcopate,  who  had  used  his  pen  with  such  distin- 
guished abihty;  but  a  fatal  malady  occasioned  him 
many  sufferings,  and  he  was  compelled  to  decline  an 
elevation  which  he  had  so  well  merited.  Being  per- 
mitted to  suggest  a  suitable  candidate,  he  gave  the 
name  of  Rev.  Charles  Inglis,  D.  D.;  and  that  gentle- 
man was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Nova  Scotia  on  the 
12th  of  August,  1787,  and  the  legncies  left  in  Eng- 
land to  establish  an  American  Episcopate  first  inured 
to  his  benefit.  The  mitre  which  he  wore  for  nearly 
thirty  years  subsequently  fell  upon  his  son;  and  the 
Church  under  their  jurisdiction,  planted  in  such  a 
strange  way,  the  Lord  "has  made  strong  for  himself" 

It  is  impossible  not  to  feel  a  respect  for  the  men 
who  endured  so  many  privations  and  bore  so  many 
frowns,  that  they  might  be  consistent  Avith  themselves 
and  save  the  communion  which  they  venerated  and 
loved. 

"  The  character  of  those  worthies,"  is  the  testimony 
of  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  from  whose  sermon  we  have 
just  quoted,  "will  entitle  them  to  a  lasting  memorial 
in  some  future  impartial  history  of  the  late  events  in 
that  country.  Their  firm  perseverance  in  their  duty, 
amidst  temptations,  menaces,  and  in  some  cases  cru- 
elty, would  have  distinguished  them  as  meritorious 
men  in  better  times.  In  the  present  age,  when  per- 
secution has  tried  the  constancy  of  very  few  suffer- 
ers for  conscience  here,  so  many  in  one  cause  argue 
a  larger  portion  of  disinterested  virtue  still  existing 
somewhere  among  mankind  than  a  severe  observer 
of  tJie  world  might  be  disposed  to  admit." 

Grace's  approbation  of  what  we  have  done  in  that  matter,  and  for  the  con- 
currenee  of  jour  influence  with  Sir  Guy  Carleton's  recommendatiou  in 
promoting  the  design." 


358  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

ARRIVAL  OF  SEABURY  IN  LONDON,  AND  IMPEDIMENTS  1  )  HIS 
CONSECRATION.  CONSECRATED  IN  SCOTLAND.  RETl  tN  TO 
CONNECTICUT,  AND   PRIMARY   CONVENTION  AT   MIDDLliTOWN. 

A.  D.  1784-1785. 

On  arriving  at  London  and  presenting  his  testi- 
monials, Dr.  Seabury  found  political  or  state  imped- 
iments in  the  way  of  his  consecration.  The  Arch- 
bishops, both  of  Canterbury  and  York,  appeared  to 
be  sensible  of  the  merits  of  his  ajjplication,  and  con- 
vinced of  the  necessity  of  transmitting  the  Episcopate 
to  the  United  States,  if  it  was  intended  to  preserve 
here  the  Church  in  its  integrity.  But  they  foresaw 
great  difficulties,  and  were  much  embarrassed  by 
various  considerations :  among  them,  that  it  would 
be  sending  a  Bishop  to  Connecticut,  which  they  had 
no  right  to  do  Avithout  the  consent  of  the  State ; 
that  the  Bishop  would  not  be  received  in  Connecti- 
cut; that  there  would  be  no  adequate  provision  for 
him;  and,  finally,  that  the  oaths  in  the  Ordination 
Office,  imposed  by  Act  of  Parliament,  could  not  be 
omitted  by  the  simple  dispensation  of  the  King. 

So  much  importance  did  Dr.  Seabury  attach  to  the 
first  of  these  considerations,  and  so  anxious  was  he  to 
see  the  Episcopate  introduced  into  this  country,  that 
he  immediately  wrote  to  his  friends  in  Connecticut, 
and  suggested  that  they  should  ap^^ly  to  the  proper 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  359 

authority  for  permission  to  have  a  Bishop  reside  in 
the  State ;  at  the  same  time  offering  to  surrender  his 
own  claims  in  favor  of  any  Presbyter  who  might  be 
agreeable  to  them  and  less  obnoxious  to  the  public. 
"The  State  of  Connecticut,"  said  he,  "may  consent 
that  a  Bishop  should  reside  among  them,  though  they 
might  not  consent  that  I  should  be  the  man." 

The  clergy  lost  no  time  in  acting  upon  this  sug- 
gestion, for,  shortly  after  receiving  it,  they  met  in 
Convention  at  Wallingford,  and  "voted  that  the  lead- 
ing members  of  both  Houses  of  Assembly,  which  was 
then  sitting  at  New  Haven,  should  be  conferred  with, 
so  far  as  the  proposed  difficulties  had  reference  to  the 
civil  government ; "  and  they  appointed  Messrs.  Leam- 
ing,  Jarvis,  and  Hubbard  a  committee  to  further  the 
object  of  this  vote.  They  learned  by  the  conference 
what  they  communicated  to  Dr.  Seabury :  that  no 
special  Act  of  the  Assembly  was  needed  in  the  case ; 
that  a  general  law  had  been  passed  embracing  the 
Church,  and  comprehending  all  the  legal  rights  and 
powers  intended  to  be  given  to  any  denomination  of 
Christians  ;  and  if  a  BishojD  came,  he  would  stand,  by 
the  provisions  of  that  law,  upon  the  same  ground  as 
the  rest  of  the  clergy,  or  the  Church  at  large.  With 
their  communication,  which  touched  upon  the  other 
objections  that  had  been  raised,  the  Committee  sent 
certified  copies  of  the  law,  which  were  slow  in  reach- 
ing their  destination ;  but  the  letter  did  good  service, 
and  "enabled  me,"  said  Seabury,  using  a  mihtary 
figure,  "  to  open  a  new  battery,  which  I  will  mount 
with  the  heaviest  cannon  and  mortars  I  can  muster, 
and  will  play  them  as  vigorously  as  possible." 

The  "  battery,"  however,  did  not  demohsh  the  oppo- 


360  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

sition  to  his  consecration.  If  it  weakened  the  force 
of  the  other  objections,  it  did  not  remove  the  great 
impediment  of  the  State  oaths.  The  American  Episco- 
pate had  been  a  subtle  ministerial  affair  for  more  than 
half  a  century,  and  nobody  in  England  now  seemed 
willing  to  risk  anything  for  the  sake  of  the  Church,  or 
for  the  sake  of  continuing  Episcopal  ordinations  in  this 
country.  An  Act  was  passed  "to  empower  the  Bishop 
of  London  for  the  time  being,  and  any  other  Bishop 
to  be  by  him  appointed,  to  admit  to  the  order  of 
deacon  or  priest  persons  being  subjects  or  citizens  of 
countries  out  of  His  Majesty's  dominions,  without  re- 
quiring them  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  as  ap- 
pointed by  law;"^  and  a  few  candidates  who  embarked 
for  England,  soon  after  the  cessation  of  hostilities, 
were  ordained  under  this  privilege,  and  returned  to 
their  own  country.  But  consecration  to  the  AjDOstolic 
office  was  viewed  from  another  standpoint,  and  held 
in  abeyance,  "partly  from  an  apprehension  of  giving 
umbrage  to  a  Power  with  whom  a  treaty  of  peace  had 
but  lately  been  signed."  It  was,  at  length,  decided  to 
be  necessary  to  apply  to  Parliament  for  an  Act  "  to 
enable  the  Bishops  to  proceed  without  incurring  a 
Premunire ; "  and  while  the  incipient  measures  were 
concerting,  and  Seabury  was  flattered  with  every  pros- 
pect of  success,  he  wrote  to  the  clergy  of  Connecti- 
cut towards  the  end  of  July,  1784,  and  thus  fore- 
shadowed the  course  that  he  might  yet  be  compelled 
to  take. 

"  But  everything  here  is  attended  with  uncertainty 
till  it  is  actually  done.  Men  or  measures,  or  both, 
may  be  changed  to-morrow,  and  then  all  will  be  to  go 

1  Hawkins,  p.  403. 


IN    CONNECTICUT.  361 

through  again.  However,  I  shall  wait  the  issue  of  the 
present  session  of  Parliament,  which,  it  is  the  common 
opinion,  will  continue  a  month  longer.  If  nothing  be 
done,  I  shall  give  up  the  matter  here  as  unattainable, 
and  apply  to  the  North,  unless  I  should  receive  con- 
trary directions  from  the  clergy  of  Connecticut." 

He  had  previously  written  that  there  was  "  nothing 
not  base  that  he  would  not  do,  nor  any  risk  that  he 
would  not  run,  nor  any  inconvenience  to  himself  that 
he  would  not  encounter,  to  carry  this  business  into 
effect;"  and  clergymen  of  influence  and  extensive 
acquirements  had  directed  his  attention  to  the  Scotch 
succession,  and  assured  him  that  "  it  was  equal  to  any 
in  the  world."  Among  this  number  was  the  eldest 
son  of  the  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  —  a  prebendary  of  Can- 
terbur)^,  —  that  fast  friend  to  the  Church  in  America 
who  had  so  long  corresponded  with  the  younger  John- 
son, and  manifested  his  interest  in  both  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  relations  of  the  colonies.  As  early  as 
1782,  while  the  struggle  of  the  American  Revolution 
was  approaching  its  end,  and  before  any  attempt  to  or- 
ganize had  been  undertaken  in  Connecticut,  Berkeley 
suggested  to  a  Presbyter  of  Aberdeen,  (the  Rev.  John 
Skinner,  afterwards  Bishop  Skinner,)  "that  a  most  im- 
portant good  might  ere  long  be  derived  to  the  suffer- 
ing and  nearly  neglected  sons  of  Episcopacy  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic  from  the  sufferino-  Church  of 
Scotland."  Writing  to  him  again,  after  his  consecra- 
tion to  the  higher  office,  he  reinforced  his  original 
suggestion,  and  said:  "From  the  Churches  of  England 
and  Ireland,  America  will  not  now  receive  the  Epis- 
copate: if  she  might,  I  am  persuaded  that  many  of 
her  sons  would  joyfully  receive  Bishops  from  Scotland. 


362         HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

The  question,  then,  shortly  is.  Can  any  proper  per- 
sons be  found  who,  with  the  spirit  of  confessors,  would 
convey  the  great  blessing  of  the  Protestant  Episcopate 
from  the  persecuted  Church  of  Scotland  to  the  strug- 
gling, persecuted  Protestant  Episcopalian  worshippers 
in  America?  If  so,  is  it  not  the  duty  of  all  and  every 
Bishop  of  the  Church  in  Scotland  to  contribute  to- 
wards sending  into  the  New  World  Protestant  Bishops, 
before  general  assemblies  can  be  held  and  covenants 
taken  for  their  perpetual  exclusion?  Liheravi  animam 
meamr 

Bishop  Skinner  returned  a  discouraging  answer  to 
this  letter,  and  correctly  observed:  "Nothing  can  be 
done  in  the  affair,  with  safety  on  our  side,  till  the  in- 
dependence of  America  be  fully  and  irrevocably  rec- 
ognized by  the  Government  of  Great  Britain;  and 
even  then  the  enemies  of  our  Church  might  make 
a  handle  of  our  correspondence  with  the  colonies,  as 
a  proof  that  we  always  wished  to  fish  in  troubled 
waters;  and  we  have  little  need  to  give  any  ground 
for  an  imputation  of  that  kind." 

The  Bishops  of  the  Church  in  Scotland  were  non- 
jurors, successors  of  those  English  prelates  who,  at 
the  Revolution^  of  1688,  were  deprived  of  their  reve- 
nues and  dignity  by  the  civil  power,  because  they 
refused  to  disown  submission  to  James  the  Second 
and  swear  allegiance  to  William  the  Third.  The 
validity  of  their  orders  was  undoubted,  and  the  only 
objection  to  them  was  on  the  score  of  their  political 
principles.  With  these  the  Church  in  this  country, 
of  course,  had  nothing  to  do ;  for,  separated  from  all 
the  entangling  alliances  of  the  State,  she  was  hence- 

1  Anderson's  Colonial  Church,  Vol.  II.  p.  531,  et  seq. 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  363 

forth  to  depend,  under  God,  for  prosperity  upon  the 
zeal,  the  energy,  the  prudence,  and  the  piety  of  her 
clergy  and  laity.  Seeing  no  prospect  of  accomplish- 
•ng  his  object  with  the  English  prelates,  "the  Ministry 
having  refused  to  permit  a  Bishop  to  be  consecrated 
for  Connecticut,  or  for  any  other  of  the  thirteen  States, 
without  the  formal  request,  or  at  least  consent  of 
Congress,"  and  unwilling  to  be  longer  detained  in 
London  at  an  expense  inconvenient  to  himself,  Dr. 
Seabury  turned  his  face  towards  Scotland,  where  he 
found  the  way  prepared  for  his  cordial  reception,  and 
the  nonjuring  Bishops  ready  to  bestow  on  him  the 
gift  of  th<?  Episcopate,  in  spite  of  all  obstacles  raised 
to  his  person  or  to  the  manner  of  his  election.  Ac- 
cordingly he  was  consecrated  in  an  upper  room  at 
Aberdeen,  November  14,  1784,  by  Robert  Kilgour, 
Primns  Bishop  of  Aberdeen,  assisted  by  Arthur  Petrie, 
the  Bishop  of  Ross  and  Moray,  and  John  Skinner,  the 
coadjutor  Bishop  of  Aberdeen.  "  Anciently  no  Bishop 
in  Scotland  had  the  style  of  Archbishop,  but  one  of 
them  had  a  precedency  under  the  title  of  Primus 
Scotice  Episcopus;  and  after  the  Revolution  they  re- 
turned to  their  old  style,  which  they  still  retain,  one 
of  them  being  entitled  Primus,  to  whom  precedency  is 
allowed  and  deference  paid  in  the  Synod  of  Bishops." 

Thus  then  three  prelates  of  the  Church  in  Scotland 
granted  what  the  British  Government,  from  \^ews  of 
political  expediency,  at  first  denied, — a  valid  Epis- 
copacy to  this  Western  World.  "Unacquainted  with 
the  politics  of  nations,"  said  they,  in  their  letter  to 
the  clergy  of  Connecticut,  "and  under  no  temptation 
to  interfere  in  matters  foreign  to  us,  we  have  no  other 
object  in  view  but  the  interest  of  the  Mediator's  king- 


364         HISTORY   OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

dom,  no  higher  ambition  than  to  do  our  duty  as  mes- 
sengers of  the  Prince  of  Peace.  In  the  discharge  of 
this  duty,  the  example  which  we  wish  to  copy  after 
is  that  of  the  Primitive  Church,  while  in  a  similar 
situation,  unconnected  with,  and  unsupported  by  the 
temporal  powers."  They  shared  the  sentiment  so 
fearlessly  expressed  by  Bishop  Skinner  in  his  conse- 
cration sermon,  which  was  afterwards  published,  that, 
"as  long;  as  there  are  nations  to  be  instructed  in  the 
principles  of  the  Gospel,  or  a  church  to  be  formed  in 
any  part  of  the  inhabited  world,  the  successors  of  the 
Apostles  are  obliged,  by  the  commission  which  they 
hold,  to  contribute,  as  far  as  they  can,  or  may  be  re- 
quired of  them,  to  the  propagation  of  those  principles, 
and  to  the  formation  of  every  church  upon  the  most 
pure  and  primitive  model.  No  fear  of  worldly  censure 
ought  to  keep  them  back  from  so  good  a  work;  no 
connection  with  any  State,  nor  dependence  on  any 
government  whatever,  should  tie  up  their  hands  from 
communicating  the  blessings  of  that  'kingdom  which 
is  not  of  this  world,'  and  diffusing  the  means  of  salva- 
tion, by  a  valid  and  regular  ministry,  wherever  they 
may  be  wanted." 

Some  of  the  English  Bishops  were  not  entirely 
pleased  with  all  the  steps  attending  the  consecration 
of  Dr.  Seabury,  but  they  could  do  no  less  than  com- 
mend him  in  their  hearts  for  his  zeal  in  so  good  a 
cause;  and  believing  Episcopacy  to  be  a  divine  insti- 
tution, they  could  not  really  censure  its  transmission 
through  so  pure  a  channel  to  the  Western  World.  His 
friends  vindicated  his  course;  and  Dr.  Home,  Dean  of 
Canterbury  and  the  Commentator  on  the  Psahns,  writ- 
ing to  him  a  few  weeks  after  his  consecration,  said:  "I 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  365 

am  truly  sorry  that  our  Cabinet  here  would  not  save 
you  the  trouble  of  going  to  Scotland  for  it.  There 
is  some  uneasiness  about  it,  I  find,  since  it  is  done. 
It  is  said  you  have  been  predfitate.  I  should  be  in- 
clined to  think  so  too,  had  any  hopes  been  left  of 
obtainino;  consecration  from  Eno-land.  But  if  none 
were  left,  what  could  you  do  but  what  you  have 
done?"  And  Bishop  Seabury  replied:  "God  grant 
that  I  may  never  have  greater  cause  to  condemn 
myself  than  in  the  conduct  of  this  business.  I  have 
endeavored  to  get  it  forward  easily  and  quietly,  with- 
out noise,  party,  or  heat;  and  I  cannot  but  be  pleased 
that  no  fault  but  precij^itancy  is  brought  against  me. 
That  implies  that  I  have  needlessly  hurried  the  mat- 
ter, but  is  an  acknowledgment  that  the  measure  was 
right  in  itself."  His  consecration  was  the  means  of 
opening  a  correspondence  between  Bishop  Skinner 
and  several  eminent  men  of  England,  which  after- 
wards proved  of  essential  benefit  to  the  Church  of 
Scotland. 

Having  completed  his  business  at  Aberdeen,  the 
newly  consecrated  Bishop  retraced  his  steps  to  Lon- 
don, and  prepared  to  embark  for  the  shores  of  his 
native  land.  Before  he  set  sail,  he  addressed  a  nol)le 
and  Christian  communication  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Venerable  Society,  reciting  briefly  the  origin  and  cir- 
cumstances of  his  journey  to  England,  and  then  to 
Scotland,  and  adding  what  most  intimately  concerned 
both  himself  and  the  clergy  who  were  to  come  under 
his  Episcopal  oversight.  "How  far,"  said  he,  "the 
^'enerable  Society  may  think  themselves  justifiable  in 
continuing  me  their  Missionary,  they  only  can  deter- 
mine.    Should  they  do  so,  I  shall  esteem  it  as  a  favor. 


366  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

Sliould  they  do  otherwise,  I  can  have  no  right  to  com- 
plain. I  beg  them  to  believe  that  I  shall  ever  retain 
a  grateful  sense  of  their  favors  to  me  during  thirty- 
one  years  that  I  have  been  their  Missionary,  and  that 
I  shall  remember  with  the  utmost  respect  the  kind 
attention  which  they  have  so  long  paid  to  the  Church 
in  that  country  for  which  I  am  now  to  embark.  Very 
happy  would  it  make  me,  could  I  be  assured  they 
would  continue  that  attention;  if  not  in  the  same,  yet 
in  some  degree ;  if  not  longer,  yet  during  the  lives  of 
their  present  Missionaries,  whose  conduct  in  the  late 
commotions  has  been  irreproachable,  and  has  pro- 
cured esteem  to  themselves  and  respect  to  that 
Church  to  which  they  belong. 

"  The  fate  of  individuals  is,  however,  of  inferior  mo- 
ment when  compared  with  that  of  the  whole  Church. 
Whenever  the  Society  shall  wholly  cease  to  interest 
itself  in  the  concerns  of  religion  in  America,  it  will 
be  a  heavy  calamity  to  the  Church  in  that  country." 

To  this  manly  and  ingenuous  communication  he 
received  an  official  answer  after  he  had  reached  New 
London,  the  substance  of  which  is  contained  in  the 
following  brief  paragraph :  "I  am  directed  by  the  So- 
ciety to  express  their  approbation  of  your  service  as 
their  Missionary,  and  to  acquaint  you  that  they  can- 
not, consistently  with  their  charter,  employ  any  Mis- 
sionaries except  in  the  plantations,  colonies,  and  Vic- 
tories belonging  to  the  kingdom  of  Great  Britain: 
your  case  is  of  course  comprehended  under  that  gen- 
eral rule." 

This  answer  decided  the  future  relations  of  the  Con- 
necticut clergy  to  the  Venerable  Society;  and  those 
who  had  not  removed  or  did  not  afterwards  remove 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  367 

into  the  British  Provinces,  resigned  their  office  as  Mis- 
sionaries, and  fell  back  upon  their  parishes  entirely 
for  support.  The  churchmen,  though  impoverished 
by  the  war,  met,  as  far  as  they  were  able,  this  new 
demand  upon  their  generosity.  Trinity  Church,  New 
Haven,  voted  to  add  to  the  salary  of  Mr.  Hubbard  an 
amount  equal  to  the  annual  stipend  which  he  had  re- 
ceived from  the  Society ;  and  in  other  2)laces  provision 
and  promises  were  made  to  supply  the  deficiency. 

Dr.  Seabury  was  absent  from  this  country  full  two 
years;  and  in  the  letter  which  he  wrote  from  London 
to  the  clergy  of  Connecticut,  after  his  return  from 
Scotland,  he  said:  "My  own  poverty  is  one  of  the 
greatest  discouragements  I  have.  Two  years'  absence 
from  my  family,  and  expensive  residence  here,  have 
more  than  expended  all  I  had.  But  in  so  good  a 
cause,  and  of  such  magnitude,  something  must  be 
risked  by  somebody.  To  my  loC  it  has  fallen:  I  have 
done  it  cheerfully,  and  despair  not  of  a  happy  issue." 
The  next  letter,  dated  June  29th,  1785,  announced 
to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Jarvis  his  arrival  at  New  London,  and 
solicited  the  favor  of  an  early  interview  with  him,  to 
consult  upon  the  time  and  place  of  holding  a  Conven- 
tion of  the  clergy.  No  noise  attended  this  first  and 
undisguised  entrance  of  a  Protestant  Bishop  upon  the 
soil  of  New  England.  He  came  as  a  simple  Christian 
citizen,  and  not  in  any  outward  pomp  and  dignity  such 
as  the  adversaries  of  the  Church  had  apprehended 
before  the  war  for  independence  was  commenced. 
They  could  well  afford  to  leave  him  to  the  quiet  pur- 
suit of  his  Apostolic  office,  for  the  political  power  was 
now  in  their  hands,  and  if  the  hated  hierarchy  that 
once  flitted  before  their  vision  threatened  to   inter- 


368       HISTORY  OF  the  episcopal  church 

fere  with  the  prerogatives  of  the  State,,  it  could  be 
easily  crushed.  "The  Presbyterian  ministers,"  says 
Wilberforce,^  "appeared  to  be  rather  alarmed;  and, 
in  consequence  of  his  arrival,  assumed  and  gave  one 
another  the  style  and  title  of  Bishops,  which  formerly 
they  reprobated  as  a  remnant  of  Popery."  He  was 
present  at  the  Annual  Commencement  of  Yale  Col- 
lege in  1785;  and  when  some  one  mentioned  the  fact 
to  President  Stiles,  and  suggested  that  he  should  be 
invited  to  a  seat  among  the  distinguished  personages, 
he  replied  that  "there  were  already  several  Bishops 
upon  the  stage,  but  if  there  was  room  for  another  he 
might  occupy  it." 

With  joy  did  the  clergy  of  Connecticut  assemble  in 
Convention  at  Middletown,  on  the  3d  day  of  August, 
1785,  and  publicly  w^elcome  and  recognize  their  Bishop. 
A  Concordate  "established  in  mutual  good  faith  and 
confidence"  at  Aberdeen,  and  the  pastoral  letter  of 
the  Scottish  Bishops,  were  laid  before  the  clergy,  and 
*^  excited  in  them  the  warmest  sentiments  of  grati- 
tude and  esteem."  At  the  risk  of  repeating  some 
things  which  have  already  been  stated,  we  cannot 
pass  on  without  quoting  a  portion  of  the  Address  to 
Bishop  Seabury,  unanimously  and  voluntarily  accept- 
ing him  as  "  supreme  in  the  government  of  the  Church, 
and  in  the  administration  of  all  ecclesiastical  affairs." 

"The  experience  of  many  years  had  long  ago  con- 
vinced the  whole  body  of  the  clergy,  and  many  lay 
members  of  our  communion,  of  the  necessity  there 
was  of  having  resident  Bishops  among  us.  Fully  and 
pubhcly  was  our  cause  pleaded,  and  supported  by  such 
arguments  as   must  have  carried  conviction  to   the 

1  History  of  the  American  Church,  p.  168. 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  369 

minds  of  all  candid  and  liberal  men.  They  were, 
however,  for  reasons  which  we  are  unable  to  assign, 
neglected  by  our  superiors  in  England.  Some  of  those 
arguments  were  drawn  from  our  being  members  of 
the  National  Church,  and  subjects  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment. These  lost  their  force  upon  the  separation 
of  this  country  from  Great  Britain  by  the  late  peace. 
Our  case  became  thereby  more  desperate,  and  our 
spiritual  necessities  were  much  increased.  Filial  af- 
fection still  induced  us  to  place  confidence  in  our  par- 
ent Church  and  country,  whose  liberality  and  benevo- 
lence we  had  long  experienced,  and  do  most  gratefully 
acknowledge.  To  this  Church  was  our  immediate  ap- 
plication directed,  earnestly  requesting  a  Bishop,  to 
collect,  govern,  and  continue  our  scattered,  wandering, 
and  sinking  Church ;  and  great  was,  and  still  continues 
to  be,  our  surprise  that  a  request  so  reasonable  in  itself, 
so  congruous  to  the  nature  and  government  of  that 
Church,  and  begging  for  an  officer  so  absolutely  ne- 
cessary in  the  Church  of  Christ,  as  they  and  we  be- 
lieve a  Bishop  to  be,  should  be  refused.  We  hope 
that  the  successors  of  the  Apostles  in  the  Church  of 
England  have  sufficient  reasons  to  justify  themselves 
to  the  world  and  to  God.  We,  however,  know  of  none 
such,  nor  can  our  imagination  frame  any." 

Bishop  Seabury  replied  to  this  passage  of  the  Ad- 
dress thus:  "The  surprise  you  express  at  the  rejec- 
tion of  your  application  in  England  is  natural.  But 
where  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  constitutions  are  so 
closely  woven  together  as  they  are  in  that  country, 
the  first  characters  in  the  Church  for  station  and 
merit  may  find  their  dispositions  rendered  ineffect- 
ual by  the  intervention  of  the   civil  authority:  and 

24 


370  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

whether  it  is  better  to  submit  quietly  to  this  state  of 
things  in  England,  or  to  risk  that  confusion  which 
would  probably  ensue  should  an  amendment  be  at- 
tempted, demands  serious  consideration." 

The  Providence  which  orders  all  events  in  infinite 
wisdom,  may  have  withheld  the  Episcopate  from 
America  in  mercy  to  the  Church,  until  it  could  be 
separated  in  the  popular  mind  and  feeling  from  all 
ideas  of  regal  power  and  oppression.  The  blending 
of  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  relations  in  any  form 
would  have  excited  the  jealousy  of  the  sects,  and  re- 
tarded the  restoration  and  growth  of  our  communion. 
The  Church  would  not  have  been  organized  in  such 
complete  harmony  with  the  primitive  model;  and  en- 
tangling alliances  with  the  State  would  have  enclosed, 
as  in  a  net,  all  the  efforts  of  the  clergy  to  advance 
the  cause  of  pure  and  undefiled  religion. 

At  this  primary  Convention  in  Middletown,  Bishop 
Seabury  held  his  first  ordination,  which  was  the  first 
Protestant  Episcopal  ordination  in  this  country,  and 
admitted  to  the  Diaconate  four  candidates, — two  of 
them  from  Connecticut,  and  long,  faithful,  and  honored 
servants  here  in  the  work  of  the  Church.  The  Eev. 
Mr.  Leaming,  then,  from  the  18th  of  April,  1784,  the 
Rector  of  Christ  Church,  Stratford,  preached  the  ser- 
mon before  the  Convention;  and  this  and  the  Ad- 
dresses and  First  Charge  of  the  Bishop  were  printed 
and  stitched  together  in  the  same  pamphlet,  from  a 
copy  of  which  another  quotation  is  made,  to  show  his 
forgiving  spirit,  and  his  grateful  sense  of  the  future 
prospects  of  the  Church, 

"I  have  the  pleasure  to  see  the  day  when  there  is 
a  Bishop  here,  to  act  as  a  true  Father  towards  his 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  371 

clergy,  supporting  their  dignity,  as  well  as  his  own;  to 
govern  them  with  impartialiti/,  as  well  as  lenity ;  and  to 
admit  none  to  the  altar,  by  ordination,  but  the  wor- 
thy; to  uphold  a  Church  beaten  with  storms  on  every 
side;  to  support  a  Church  that  has  been  a  bulwark 
against  infidelity  on  the  one  hand,  and  Romish  super- 
stition on  the  other:  but  by  the  Divine  providence 
it  has  continued  to  this  day.  And  upon  this  auspi- 
cious day  I  cannot  forbear  to  mention  (and  I  do  it 
with  pleasure)  the  conduct  of  the  Civil  Rulers  of  this 
State  respecting  our  Church:  they  have  not  only 
manifested  a  spirit  of  benevolence,  but  an  exalted  Chris- 
tian charity ;  for  which  our  gratitude  is  due,  and  shall 
be  paid  in  obeying  all  their  just  commands. 

"As  the  same  disposition  appears  in  the  ministers 
of  our  neighbormg  churches  to  live  in  Christian  har- 
mony with  us,  we  are  all  ready  to  meet  them  upon 
the  same  ground,  with  a  sincerity  like  their  oivn."  ^ 

Bishop  Seabury's  First  Charge  to  the  clergy  was  de- 
livered the  next  day,  and  embraced  the  points  which 
rose  to  his  mind  at  that  season,  as  deserving  to  be  spe- 
cially pressed  upon  their  attention.  The  consideration 
of  one  of  them  was  not  more  proper  then  than  it  is 
now,  and  by  citing  a  passage  in  reference  to  it,  it  will 
be  seen  how  careful  the  ecclesiastical  authority  was  to 
guard  the  entrance  to  the  sacred  ministry  at  a  time 
when  it  was  so  necessary  to  replenish  the  ranks. 
"Another  matter  which  my  duty  requires  me  to  men- 
tion, relates  to  a  business  in  which  you  will  probably 
be  soon  called  upon  to  act.  I  mean  the  very  impor- 
tant one  of  giving  recommendations  to  candidates  for 
Holy  Orders.     It  is  impossible  that  the  Bishop  should 

1  Sermon,  pp.  13,  14. 


372  HISTORY  OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

be  personally  acquainted  with  every  one  who  may 
present  himself  for  Ordination.  He  must,  therefore, 
depend  on  the  recommendation  of  his  clergy  and 
other  people  of  reputation,  for  the  character  and  quali- 
fications of  those  who  shall  be  presented  to  him.  By 
quaUfications,  I  mean  not  so  much  literary  accom- 
plishments, though  these  are  not  to  be  neglected,  as 
aptitude  for  the  work  of  the  ministry.  You  must  be 
sensible  that  a  man  may  have,  and  deservedly  have, 
an  irreproachable  moral  character,  and  be  endued 
with  pious  and  devout  affections,  and  a  competent 
share  of  human  learning,  and  yet,  from  want  of  pru- 
dence, or  from  deficiency  in  temper,  or  some  singu- 
larity in  disposition,  may  not  be  calculated  to  make 
a  good  clergyman ;  for  to  be  a  good  clergyman  implies, 
among  other  things,  that  a  man  be  a  useful  one.  A 
clergyman  who  does  no  good,  always  does  hurt.  There 
is  no  medium.  Not  only  the  moral  character  and 
learning  and  abilities  of  candidates  are  to  be  exactly 
inquired  into,  but  also  their  good  temper,  prudence, 
diligence,  and  everything  by  which  their  usefulness 
m  the  ministry  may  be  affected.  Nor  should  their 
personal  appearance,  voice,  manner,  clearness  of  ex- 
]3ression,  and  facility  of  communicating  their  senti- 
ments, be  overlooked.  These,  which  may  by  some 
be  thought  to  be  only  secondary  qualifications,  and 
therefore  of  no  great  importance,  are,  however,  those 
that  will  require  your  more  particular  attention,  and 
call  for  all  your  prudence.  They  who  shall  apply 
for  recommendations,  will  generally  be  such  as  have 
passed  through  a  course  of  academical  studies,  and 
must  be  competently  qualified  in  a  literary  vievv."^ 

I  First  Charge,  p.  7. 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  373 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  CONVENTIONS  OF  DELEGATES  FROM  SEVERAL 
STATES,  AND  ATTEJfPTS  TO  UNITE  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE 
INDEPENDENT  COLONIES  UNDER  ONE  GENERAL  CONSTITU- 
TION. 

A.  D.    1785-1786. 

Very  little  in  the  way  of  business  was  accomplished 
at  the  meeting  of  the  clergy  in  Micldletown,  The 
formal  reception  of  the  Bishop,  the  solemn  ordination, 
and  the  public  services  were  the  chief  attractions  of 
the  occasion,  but  some  cautious  steps  were  taken  to- 
wards maintaining  uniformity  of  divine  worshijD  in 
the  Episcopal  Church,  and  adapting  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer  to  the  new  civil  and  ecclesiastical  rela- 
tions of  the  clergy  in  this  country.  Two  presbyters, 
not  of  Connecticut,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Parker  of  Boston, 
and  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Moore,  both  of  whom  were 
afterwards  raised  to  the  Episcopate,  were  in  attend- 
ance, and  aided  by  their  counsels,  then  and  subse- 
quently, the  movement  to  unite  the  Church  in  the 
thirteen  States  under  one  Liturgy  and  Constitution. 
After  appointmg  Messrs.  Bowden,  Parker,  and  Jarvis 
a  committee,  to  consider  and  make  with  the  Bishop 
some  alterations  in  the  Prayer  Book  needful  for  the 
present  use,  the  Convocation  adjourned  to  meet  again 
at  New  Haven  in  September. 

It  is  necessary,  at  this  stage  of  the  history,  to  look 
out  upon  certain  proceedmgs  begun  and  carried  on 


374        HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

elsewHere.  As  early  as  May,  1784,  ten  clergymen 
and  six  laymen,  from  the  States  of  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania,  assembled  at  New  Bruns- 
wick, ostensibly  to  examine  into  the  condition  of  the 
Corporation  for  the  Relief  of  Widows  and  Orphans, 
a  charitable  society  whose  funds  had  been  dissipated 
by  the  war,  but  really  to  concert  plans  for  "a  Conti- 
nental representation  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and 
for  the  better  management  of  its  concerns."  "The 
opportunity,"  says  Bishop  White,  "was  improved  by 
the  clergy  from  Pennsylvania  of  communicating  cer- 
tain measures  recently  adopted  in  that  State,  tend- 
ing to  the  organization  of  the  Church  throughout  the 
Union."  Before  they  separated,  they  arranged  for  an- 
other informal  meeting  in  October,  at  the  city  of 
New  York,  and  requested  three  of  their  number  to 
wait  upon  the  clergy  of  Connecticut,  who  were  to 
hold  a  convention  in  Trinity  week  next  ensuing,  and 
soUcit  their  cooperation  in  the  projected  scheme. 

At  the  voluntary  meeting  held  in  New  York,  Octo- 
ber 6th  and  7th,  sixteen  clergymen  were  present  from 
nine  of  the  thirteen  States,  and  eleven  laymen.  From 
Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island  appeared  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Parker,  and  from  Connecticut  the  Rev.  John 
R.  Marshall, — not,  as  the  result  showed,  to  lend  any 
direct  aid  to  the  measures  in  contemplation,  but  rather 
in  courteous  obedience  to  the  request  of  their  breth- 
ren, and  to  state  distinctly  their  own  views  and  condi- 
tion. Mr.  Marshall  especially,  who  read  his  paper 
of  instructions,  was  only  empowered  to  announce 
that  the  clergy  of  Connecticut  felt  themselves  re- 
strained by  the  previous  steps  which  they  had  taken 
to  obtain  the  Episcopate,  and  until  the  event  of  their 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  375 

application  could  be  known,  it  would  be  improper  for 
them  "to  do  anything  which  might  change  the  ground 
on  which  the  gentleman  of  their  choice  was  then 
standing."  There  was  another  objection  which  was 
fundamental  in  their  view,  and  that  related  to  the 
constitution  of  the  Convention.  They  were  in  favor 
of  leaving  all  ecclesiastical  matters  to  the  clergy ;  and 
the  idea  of  lay  representation  in  a  body  legislating 
for  the  Church  was  associated  in  theu^  minds  with 
that  of  "the  trial  and  the  degradation  of  clergymen 
by  the  same  authority."  They  were  opposed  also  to 
a  revision  of  the  Liturgy,  and  the  adoption  of  any 
measures  affecting  the  general  interest  of  the  Church 
in  this  country,  until  there  was  a  Bishop  to  preside 
over  the  councils  and  check  undue  legislation. 

Notwithstanding  the  refusal  of  Connecticut  by  her 
representative  to  join  m  th*e  business  of  this  volun- 
tary meeting,  the  body  thus  assembled  recommended 
to  the  clergy  and  congregations  of  their  communion 
in  the  several  States,  to  unite  in  a  general  ecclesias- 
tical constitution  on  certain  fundamental  principles, 
w^hich  they  proceeded  to  set  forth.  Among  them  the 
first  was:  "That  there  shall  be  a  general  Convention 
of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica;" and  another,  "That  the  clergy  and  laity  assem- 
bled in  Convention  shall  deliberate  in  one  body,  but 
shall  vote  separately  j  and  the  concurrence  of  both 
shall  be  necessary  to  give  validity  to  every  measure." 
They  appointed  the  first  meeting  of  the  Convention 
at  Philadelphia,  and  fixed  the  time  to  be  "the  Tues- 
day before  the  Feast  of  St.  Michael,"  1785,  when  they 
"hoped  and  earnestly  desired  that  the  Episcopal 
churches  in  the  respective  States  would  send  their 


376  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

Clerical  and  Lay  Deputies,  duly  instructed  and  author- 
ized to  proceed  on  the  necessary  business  proposed 
for  their  deliberation." 

The  clergy  of  Connecticut,  after  they  had  secured 
the  Episcopate,  and  fixed  the  time  for  their  first  meet- 
ing at  Middletown,  reciprocated  the  courtesy  of  their 
brethren  in  the  Middle  and  Southern  States;  and  Mr. 
Leaming,  writing  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  AVhite  from  Stratr 
ford,  under  date  of  July  14,  1785,  invited  him  and  the 
rest  of  the  Pennsylvania  clergy  to  be  present,  and 
then  added:  "We  must  all  wish  for  a  Christian  union 
of  all  the  churches  in  the  thirteen  States,  for  which 
good  purpose  we  must  allow  imvate  convenience  to  give 
ivay  to  'public  xdility.  We  have  no  views  of  usurping 
any  authority  over  our  brothers  and  neighbors,  but 
wish  them  to  unite  with  us  in  the  same  friendly  man- 
ner that  we  are  ready  and  willing  to  do  with  them. 
I  must  earnestly  entreat  you  to  come  upon  this  oc- 
casion, for  the  sake  of  the  peace  of  the  Church,  for 
your  own  satisfaction,  in  what  friendly  manner  the 
clergy  here  would  treat  you,  not  to  mention  what 
happiness  the  sight  of  you  would  give  to  your  sincere 
friend  and  brother." 

The  only  response  which  came  from  the  Philadel- 
phia clergy  to  this  cordial  letter  was  an  invitation  to 
attend  the  approaching  General  Convention.  But 
the  Church  in  Connecticut  could  not,  with  self-respect, 
accept  this  invitation,  for  the  reason  that  she  was  now 
completely  organized,  with  a  Bishop  at  her  head;  and 
the  clergy  were  unwilling  to  join  in  any  Convention 
where  he  was  reduced  to  the  level  of  a  Presbyter,  or 
where  the  validity  of  his  consecration  was  not  fully 
admitted  and  recognized.     This  interchange  of  civil- 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  877 

tties,  however,  opened  the  way  for  a  free  and  hiter- 
esting  corresjDondence,  conducted  on  the  one  side  by 
Bishop  Seabury  and  the  venerable  Dr.  Chandler, — who 
by  this  time  had  returned  to  the  scene  of  his  early 
labors  in  New  Jersey,  to  await  the  last  summons, — 
and  on  the  other  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  White  and 
the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Smith.  The  latter  gentleman, 
who  was  himself  not  without  desire  for  a  mitre,  had 
been  opposed  to  the  nonjuring  Bishops  in  Scotland 
communicating  the  Episcopate  to  Connecticut;  and 
he  had  said  some  things  not  very  complimentary  to 
the  candidate  from  this  State,  in  his  steps  to  reach 
the  Apostolic  office.  The  change  which  came  over 
him  will  be  seen  in  a  later  chapter.  Dr.  Chandler, 
though  clearl}^  of  opinion  that  the  Laity  ought  to  be 
consulted  in  the  matter  of  oro^anizino;  the  Church, 
still  thought  that  it  was  "contrary  to  the  established 
maxims  of  ecclesiastical  j^olity"  to  admit  them  to 
vote  in  councils,  and  he  particularly  objected  to  the 
prominence  which  had  been  given  them  in  the  Con- 
vention of  Virginia.  He  accepted  the  constitution 
of  the  Church  in  Connecticut,  and  believed  that  the 
Christian  world  could  not  afford  one,  all  things  con- 
sidered, more  conformable  to  the  primitive  pattern. 
Bishop  Seabury,  in  a  long  and  closely  reasoned  letter 
to  Dr.  Smith,  set  forth  the  various  objections  which 
rose  to  his  view,  and  in  reference  to  the  Laity  said: 
"I  have  as  great  a  regard  for  them  as  any  man  can 
have.  It  is  for  their  sake  that  ministers  are  ap- 
pointed in  the  Church.  I  have  no  idea  of  aggran- 
dizing the  clergy  at  the  expense  of  the  Laity,  or,  in- 
deed, of  ao-o-randizina;  them  at  all.  Decent  means  of 
living  is  all  they  have  a  right  to  expect.     But  I  can- 


378  HISTORY   OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

not  conceive  that  the  Laity  can,  with  any  propriety, 
be  admitted  to  sit  in  judgment  on  Bishops  and  Pres- 
byters, especially  when  deposition  may  be  the  event, 
because  they  cannot  take  away  a  character  which 
they  cannot  confer.  It  is  incongruous  to  every  idea 
of  Episcopal  government."  This  sentiment  accorded 
with  the  arrangement  of  the  Church  in  Scotland. 
He  was  willing  to  admit  them  into  a  participation  of 
the  government  as  far  as  the  external  or  temporal 
state  of  things  might  require,  but  he  was  opposed  to 
then'  meddling  with  matters  strictly  ecclesiastical.  In 
concluding  his  frank  and  admirable  letter,  which  he 
expected  Dr.  Smith  to  lay  before  the  Convention,  to- 
gether with  a  copy  of  his  letters  of  consecration  which 
he  enclosed,  Bishop  Seabury  gave  utterance  to  his 
"most  earnest  wish  to  have  our  Church  in  all  the 
States  so  settled  that  it  may  be  one  Church,  united 
in  government,  doctrine,  and  discipline;  that  there 
may  be  no  divisions  among  us,  no  opposition  of  inter- 
ests, no  clashing  of  opinions."  "Human  passions  and 
prejudices,"  said  he,  "and,  if  possible,  infirmities,  should 
be  laid  aside.  A  wrong  step  will  be  attended  with 
dreadful  consequences.  Patience  and  prudence  must 
be  exercised;  and  should  there  be  some  circumstances 
that  press  hard  for  a  remedy,  hasty  decisions  will  not 
mend  them.  In  doubtful  cases  they  will  probably  have 
a  bad  effect.  May  the  Spirit  of  God  be  with  you  at 
Philadelphia;  and  as  I  persuade  myself  the  sole  good 
of  His  Church  is  the  sole  aim  of  you  all,  I  hope  for 
the  best  effects  from  your  meeting." 

Not  satisfied  with  this  communication,  and  fearful 
that  his  request  might  still  be  disregarded,  he  wrote 
a  few  days  later  to  Dr.  White,  expressing  the  hope 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  379 

that  the  several  matters  which  he  had  pointed  out 
might  be  reconsidered,  and  said:  "It  is  a  grief  to  me 
that  I  cannot  be  with  you  at  your  ensuing  Conven- 
tion. Neither  my  circumstances  nor  my  duty  will- 
permit  it.  I  am  utterly  unprovided  for  so  long  a 
journey,  not  being  at  present  master  even  of  a  horse." 
He  sent  him  also,  as  he  had  sent  Dr.  Smith,  a  copy 
of  the  alterations  which  it  had  been  thought  proper 
to  make  in  the  Liturgy  to  accommodate  it  to  the  dif- 
ferent condition  of  the  civil  state,  and  intimated  that, 
should  other  changes  be  made,  they  must  be  the 
"work  of  time  and  great  dehberation." 

A  similar  spirit  was  evinced  by  the  clergy  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, Rhode  Island,  and  New  Hampshire ;  and, 
with  eleven  laymen,  they  assembled  at  Boston,  a 
month  after  the  meeting  at  Middletown,  and  delib- 
erating in  one  body,  but  voting  separately,  assented 
substantially  to  the  omissions  and  alterations  in  the 
Liturgy  agreed  upon  by  Bishop  Seabury  and  his  cler- 
ical associates.  Mr.  Parker,  in  communicating  their 
action  to  him,  said:  "The  only  material  ones  that  we 
have  not  agreed  to,  are  the  omitting  the  Second  Les- 
son in  the  Morning  Service,  and  the  Gospel  and  Ex- 
hortation in  the  Baptismal  Office.  The  additional 
alterations  in  some  of  the  offices  are  such  as  were 
mentioned  at  Middletown,  but  which  we  had  not  time 
to  enter  upon  then.  The  churches  in  these  States 
appear  very  desirous  of  maintaining  a  uniformity  in 
divine  worship,  and  for  that  purpose  have  voted  that 
the  alterations  agreed  to  shall  not  be  adopted  till  the 
Convention  meet  again,  that  we  may  have  an  oppor- 
tunity of  comparing  our  proposed  alterations  with 
those  that  shall  be  adopted  and  enjoined  in  Connec- 
ticut, and  at  the  Convention  at  Philadelphia.  .  .  . 


380  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

"We  have  voted  not  to  send  any  delegate  from 
these  States  to  the  Convention  at  Philadelphia,  but 
only  to  acquaint  them  with  our  proceedings ;  and  I 
flatter  myself  that  no  other  alterations  will  be  adopted 
by  them  than  those  we  proposed  at  Middletown,  and 
have  agreed  to  here.  If  they  are  so  prudent  as  to 
pursue  the  same  steps,  the  desired  object  of  a  general 
uniformity  will  thereby  be  obtained.  As  to  any  fur- 
ther revision  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  I  shall 
strenuously  oppose  it,  till  there  are  three  or  more 
Bishops  in  these  States,  and  then  let  the  power  of 
revising  the  Prayer  Book  be  vested  solely  with  them 
and  the  clergy.  Should  the  alterations  now  pro- 
posed take  place,  the  laity,  I  have  no  doubt,  will  be 
perfectly  contented." 

But  the  laity  in  Connecticut  were  not  "contented," 
and  seemed  indisposed  to  adoj)t  any  changes  except 
those  which  were  required  by  their  new  civil  rela- 
tions. For  Bishop  Seabury,  replying  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Parker  from  Wallingford,  near  the  end  of  November, 
mentioned,  "Between  the  time  of  our  parting  at  Mid- 
dletown  and  the  clerical  meeting  at  New  Haven,  [Sep- 
tember 14,]  it  was  found  that  the  churchpeople  in 
Connecticut  were  much  alarmed  at  the  thoughts  of 
any  considerable  alterations  being  made  in  the  Prayer 
Book;  and,  upon  the  whole,  it  was  judged  best  that  no 
alterations  should  be  attempted  at  present,  but  to  wait 
till  a  little  time  shall  have  cooled  down  the  tempers 
and  conciliated  the  affections  of  people  to  each  other." 

When  the  General  Convention  assembled  at  Phil- 
adelphia on  the  27th  of  September,  no  delegate  from 
any  of  the  New-England  States  appeared;  but  all  the 
other  old  thirteen  States,  except  Georgia  and  North 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  381 

Carolina,  were  represented,  embracing  the  names  of 
sixteen  clergymen  and  twenty-six  laymen.  The  Rev, 
Dr.  William  White  was  chosen  chairman,  and  the  ses- 
sion continued  for  ten  days.  Attention  was  directed 
mainly  to  these  three  leading  subjects:  the  General 
Ecclesiastical  Constitution  of  the  meditated  union ;  the 
formation  or  adoption  of  a  Common  Liturgy;  and  the 
measures  to  be  taken  to  secure  an  American  Episco- 
pate in  the  Anglican  line  of  succession.  The  Eccle- 
siastical Constitution,  and  the  draught  of  "an  Address 
to  the  Most  Reverend  the  Archbishops,  and  the  Right 
Reverend  the  Bishops  of  the  Church  of  England,"  were 
first  disposed  of,  and  then  their  care  was  directed  to 
the  revisal  and  amendment  of  the  Liturgy.  "If  they 
touched  it  with  trembling  hands,"  very  graphically 
wrote  a  New -England  Presbyter  afterwards  to  a 
friend,  "I  fancy  their  hands  were  paralytic  during 
the  whole  session."  When  they  had  completed  their 
work,  which  was  attended  with  wann  controversy, 
they  had  not  only  made  the  changes  necessary  to  the 
new  and  independent  relations  of  the  States,  but 
had  thoroughly  revised  the  Liturgy,  omitting  entirely 
some  cherished  forms,  such  as  the  Athanasian  and 
Nicene  Creeds,  and  reducing  the  Articles  of  Religion 
from  thirty-nine  to  twenty.  The  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  thus  "revised  and  proposed  to  the  use  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,"  was  published  under 
the  direction  of  a  committee  of  the  Convention,  "ac- 
companied with  a  proper  Preface  or  Address,  setting 
forth  the  reason  and  expediency  of  the  alterations." 
It  is  known  in  the  early  history  of  the  American 
Church  as  "The  Proposed  Book,"  and  it  was  received 
with  evident  distrust  in  England,  and  by  the  true 


382  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

friends  of  Episcopacy  in  this  country.  Bishop  Sea- 
bury,  whose  letter  to  Dr.  Smith  was  laid  before  the 
Convention  to  little  purpose,  spoke  of  it,  and  of  the 
authority  by  which  it  was  set  forth,  in  very  temper- 
ate, yet  decided  terms,  when  he  delivered  his  Second 
Charge  to  the  clergy  of  Connecticut,  at  Derby,  in  1786. 
After  an  imfavorable  allusion  to  the  merit  of  the  al- 
terations, he  added:  "But  the  authority  on  which  they 
have  acted  is  unknown  in  the  Episcopal  Church.  The 
government  of  the  Church  by  Bishops  we  hold  to 
have  been  established  by  the  Apostles  acting  under 
the  commission  of  Christ  and  the  direction  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  therefore  is  not  to  be  altered  by 
any  power  on  earth,  nor  indeed  by  an  angel  from 
heaven.  This  government  they  have  degraded  by 
lodging  the  chief  authority  in  a  convention  of  clerical 
and  lay  delegates,  making  their  Church  Episcopal  in 
its  orders,  but  Presbyterian  in  its  government.  Lit- 
urgies are  left  more  to  the  prudence  and  judgment 
of  the  governors  of  the  Church;  and  the  primitive 
practice  seems  to  have  been  that  the  Bishop  did,  with 
the  advice  no  doubt  of  his  Presbyters,  provide  a  Lit>- 
urgy  for  the  use  of  his  diocese.  This  ought  to  have 
been  the  case  here.  Bishops  should  first  have  been 
obtained  to  preside  over  those  churches.  And  to 
those  Bishops,  with  the  Proctors  of  the  clergy,  should 
have  been  committed  the  business  of  compiling  a 
Liturgy  for  the  use  of  the  Church  through  the  States. 
This  would  have  insured  unity  in  doctrine,  worship, 
and  discipline  through  the  whole,  which  upon  the 
present  plan  will  either  not  be  obtained,  or,  if  ob- 
tained, will  not  be  durable." 

Without  lingering  now  over  these  general  topics, 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  383 

we  may  return  to  look  at  the  condition  and  advance- 
ment of  the  Church  in  Connecticut  under  her  com- 
plete organization.  Though  her  members  numbered 
at  least  20,000  persons,  the  long  and  exhausting  war 
had  spread  desolation  in  many  of  the  parishes,  so  that 
she  was  poor,  and  had  little,  if  anything,  in  the  way 
of  support,  to  offer  her  newly  consecrated  Bishop. 
But  it  had  been  expected  from  the  first  that  he  would 
become  the  Rector  of  the  parish  at  New  London,  the 
parish  which  his  father  had  served  many  years  before, 
and  which  at  the  time  of  his  arrival  was  proceeding, 
to  quote  the  language  of  the  record,  to  "reestablish 
their  sacred  dwelling,"  burnt,  when  the  town  was 
burnt  by  the  British  troops,  under  the  command  of 
that  traitor  to  his  country  —  Benedict  Arnold.  New 
London,  therefore,  was  henceforth  the  residence  of 
Bishop  Seabury,  and  it  was  convenient  for  him  to 
exercise  his  office  in  Rhode  Island,  a  State  which 
subsequently  came  under  his  Episcopal  jurisdiction. 
Through  the  influence  of  this  zealous  and  accom- 
plished prelate,  the  churchmen  of  Connecticut  were 
inspired  with  fresh  hopes  and  more  earnest  efforts. 
The  parishes  rose  from  their  depression,  and  qualified 
according  to  the  law  of  the  State.  New  ones  were 
formed  in  favorable  localities,  and  the  number  of  can- 
didates for  Holy  Orders  increased. 

Of  those  set  apart  to  the  sacred  office  at  the  first 
ordination  in  Middletown,  the  Rev.  Ashbel  Baldwin 
had  been  sent  to  Litchfield,  his  native  place,  and  the 
Rev.  Philo  Shelton  had  returned  to  Fairfield,  where  he 
had  acted  in  the  capacity  of  a  lay  reader  since  the 
burning  of  the  town  by  General  Tryon  in  1779 ;  both 
were  graduates  of  Yale  College.     Steps  were  taken 


384  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

shortly  after  the  ackiiowledgmenl  of  Independence  to 
erect  a  new  church  at  Fairfield ;  and  though  divisions 
and  disagreements  among  the  members  of  the  parish 
as  to  the  location  prevented  their  accomplishment  for 
many  years,  yet  Mr.  Shelton  was  employed  to  read 
one  third  part  of  the  time  at  a  private  dwelling  in 
Greenfield,  and  the  remaining  two  thirds  at  Stratfield 
and  North  Fairfield,  where  churches  had  long  drawn 
within  their  walls  fliithful  worshippers.  So  deter- 
mined were  the  people  to  have  no  interruption  in 
their  religious  services,  that  when  Mr.  Shelton,  two 
years  after  his  ordination,  was  disabled  by  protracted 
sickness,  they  held  a  legal  meeting  to  adopt  measures 
to  supply  his  place.  The  quaintness  of  the  original 
records  may  provoke  a  smile;  for  the  meeting  being 
warned  "to  hire  some  person  to  carry  on  instead  of 
Mr.  Shelton,  until  he  should  get  better,"  it  was  voted 
that  the  moderator  of  the  meeting  should  ^'^ carry  on"; 
and  still  later  a  definite  arrangement  was  authorized 
with  the  contiguous  churches  to  "hire  a  man  to  carry 
on  for  three  months."  ^ 

At  Norwalk,  another  of  the  burnt  fields  of  the 
Church,  signs  of  returning  life  were  early  visible. 
Immediately  after  the  conflagration  which  destroyed 
that  town,  and  before  they  had  reconstructed  their 
own  dwellings,  the  Episcopalians  erected  a  temporary 
edifice  in  which  to  resume  the  public  worship  of  God; 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dibblee,  the  Missionary  at  Stamford, 
frequently  officiated  therein,  and  strengthened  and 
encouraged  the  unfortunate  flock.  When  the  Con- 
gregationalists  petitioned  the  General  Assembly  for 
assistance  to  rebuild  their  meeting-house,  and  received 

1  Rev.  N.  E.  Cornwall's  Historical  Discourse,  1851,  p.  42. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  385 

£500,  which  was  chiefly,  if  not  wholly,  paid  out  of 
the  confiscated  property  of  churchmen  who  had  re- 
moved to  the  British  Provinces,  a  similar  petition  was 
preferred  in  1785  by  the  members  of  the  Episcopal 
parish,  but  refused.  Nothing  daunted  by  this  par- 
tiality, they  proceeded,  under  the  administration  of 
the  Rev.  John  Bowden,  who  had  been  called  to  the 
Rectorship,  to  "rebuild  their  church  in  an  elegant 
manner,  the  foundation  and  dimensions  continuing 
the  same  as  before  the  fire."  So  great  were  their 
unanimity  and  zeal,  that,  with  the  aid  of  a  generous 
donation  from  friends  in  New  York,  they  accomplished 
their  work  without  recourse  to  taxation.  The  Rectory 
was  also  rebuilt,  and  a  lot  of  four  acres  added  to  the 
already  spacious  glebe.  But  while  the  old  church 
and  parsonage  have  both  disappeared,  and  a  later 
hand^  has  been  seen  guiding  the  liberality  of  the 
people  to  "good  deeds  for  the  house  of  God  and  for 
the  offices  thereof,"  the  sapling  elms  which  Bowden 
planted,  having  struck  their  roots  deep  into  the  earth, 
and  thrown  aloft  their  spreading  branches,  still  grace- 
fully shade  the  pleasant  avenues  that  conduct  to  the 
new  church,  and  to  the  finest  rural  Rectory  in  Con- 
necticut. 

In  Branford,  the  churchmen,  and  those  who  indi- 
cated their  preference  for  the  Episcopal  form  of  wor- 
ship, became  so  numerous  that  a  parish  was  organized 
June  2d,  1784,  and  an  ill-proportioned  edifice  erected 
and  occupied  as  early  as  May,  1786.  Farther  back 
from  the  shore,  the  revival  of  affection  for  the  Church 
was  seen;  and  at  Hartford,  the  land  which  had  re- 
mained in  the  possession  of  a  hostile  party  during  the 

1  Rev.  William  Cooper  Mead,  D.  D. 
25 


386  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

Revolution,  was  recovered  by  legal  process,  and  re- 
stored to  the  "associated  brethren."  At  Woodbury, 
that  energetic  and  faithful  Presbyter,  John  R  Mar- 
shall, no  longer  willing  to  be  straitened  for  room  in 
the  Town  House,  directed  the  efforts  of  his  parish- 
ioners to  the  erection  of  a  church,  immediately  upon 
the  close  of  the  war,  and  bore  himself  a  liberal  pro- 
portion of  the  first  expense.  The  edifice  is  still  stand- 
ing, and  is  now  one  of  the  oldest  Episcopal  houses  of 
worship  in  the  Diocese,  though  so  much  unproved 
and  beautified  within  the  last  few  years  as  to  have 
the  appearance  and  freshness  of  youth. 

These  were  among  the  movements  which  sprung 
from  the  hopes  and  prayers  of  churchmen  awakening 
to  a  sense  of  their  responsibilities  under  a  new  form 
of  civil  government,  and  with  the  Apostolic  office  se- 
cured and  accepted.  Up  to  September  21st,  1786, 
Bishop  Seabury  had  admitted  twenty  candidates  to 
the  Diaconate,  and  nineteen  of  this  number  to  the 
Priesthood;  and  on  that  day,  at  Derby,  he  clothed 
v/ith  authority  as  Deacons,  Philo  Perry,  David  Belden, 
Tillotson  Bronson,  and  Reuben  Ives,  —  all  natives  of 
Connecticut  and  graduates  of  Yale  College.  The  first 
was  elected  a  successor  to  the  lamented  Beach  at  New- 
town; Mr.  Bronson  was  sent  as  a  pioneer  into  Ver- 
mont and  New  Hampshire;  and  Mr.  Ives  was  taken 
for  a  time  as  his  own  assistant  at  New  London.  Mr. 
Belden  exercised  the  ministry  for  a  short  time  in 
Fairfield  County,  but  ill  health  compelled  him  to 
relinquish  it  before  he  was  advanced  to  the  Priestr 
hood,  and  his  name  disappeared  from  the  list  of 
the  parochial  clergy.  He  retired  upon  a  farm,  and 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  days  without  dishonor- 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  387 

ing  the  Communion  at  whose  altar  he  had  begun  to 
serve. 

The  clergy  and  laity  were  entirely  united  in  their 
efforts  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  Church,  and 
if  any  fears  or  doubts  had  existed  in  regard  to  the 
election  or  qualifications  of  their  Episcopal  Head,  they 
were  dissipated  by  personal  intercourse  with  him,  and 
by  the  ability,  frankness,  prudence,  and  firmness  with 
which  he  exercised  his  office,  and  weighed  all  the 
measures  that  Avere  to  assimilate  our  communion  to 
Jerusalem  of  old,  "builded  as  a  city  that  is  compact 
together." 


388  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

CHANGES  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  COMMON  PRAYER,  AND  THEIR  RE- 
CEPTION IN  ENGLAND;  CONSECRATION  OF  DRS.  PROVOOST 
AND  WHITE;  THE  CHURCH  IN  CONNECTICUT,  AND  CORRE- 
SPONDENCE OF  BISHOPS  AND  CLERGY. 

A.  D.  1786-1789. 

It  has  been  stated  that  Bishop  Seabury  and  his 
clergy  at  first  made  no  other  changes  in  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  except  those  which  were  necessary 
to  adapt  it  to  the  new  and  independent  relations  of 
the  Government.  But  in  1786  he  set  forth  "The 
Communion  Office,  or,  Order  for  the  Administration 
of  the  Holy  Eucharist,"  for  the  use  of  the  Episcopal 
churches  in  Connecticut.  It  followed,  with  a  few  ver- 
bal alterations,  the  form  in  the  Scottish  Liturgy, 
rather  than  the  arrangement  of  the  office  in  the  Eng- 
lish Liturgy;  and  the  Connecticut  clergy  of  that  period 
became  very  much  attached  to  it,  not  only  from  the 
recommendation  of  their  Bishop,  but  from  the  convic- 
tion that  this  order  w^as  in  more  exact  conformity  with 
the  earliest  usage  of  the  Christian  Church.  By  an 
article  of  the  Concordate,  Bishop  Seabury  "agreed  to* 
take  a  serious  view  of  the  Communion  Office  recom- 
mended by  the  Scottish  prelates,  and  if  found  agree- 
able to  the  genuine  standards  of  antiquity,  to  give  his 
sanction  to  it,  and  by  gentle  methods  of  argument  and 
persuasion  to  endeavor,  as  they  had  done,  to  intro- 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  389 

duce  it  by  degrees  into  practice,  without  the  com- 
pulsion of  authority  on  the  one  side,  or  the  prejudice 
of  former  customs  on  the  other." 

The  reception  in  Enghmd  of  "the  Proposed  Book" 
of  Common  Prayer,  as  set  forth  by  the  General  Con- 
vention assembled  at  Philadelphia  in  the  autumn  of 
1785,  was  unfavorable;  and  the  application  for  an  Epis- 
copate in  the  Anglican  line  was  prudently  held  for  fu- 
ture disposal.  A  letter,  fidl  of  Christian  affection  and 
kindly  regard  for  their  Episcopal  brethren  in  Amer- 
ica, was  signed  and  sent  over  by  the  Archbishops  of 
Canterbury  and  York,  and  the  seventeen  Bishops  of 
England,  in  answer  to  the  formal  address  of  that  body. 
While  they  evinced  a  desire  to  further  the  prayer  of 
the  Address,  and  were  disposed  to  make  every  proper 
allowance  for  the  difficulties  which  surrounded  the 
Church  in  this  country,  these  prelates  at  the  same 
time  suggested  theh^  fears  "that  in  the  proceedings 
of  the  Convention  some  alterations  had  been  adopted 
or  intended  which  those  difficulties  did  not  seem  to 
justify."  They  waited  for  an  explanation  upon  this 
point,  and  closed  their  letter  by  saying,  "We  cannot 
but  be  extremely  cautious,  lest  we  should  be  the  in- 
struments of  establishing  an  Ecclesiastical  system  which 
will  be  called  a  branch  of  the  Church  of  England,  but 
afterwards  may  possibly  appear  to  have  departed  from 
it  essentially,  either  in  doctrine  or  discipline." 

The  Convention  reassembled  at  Philadelphia  on  the 
3d  Tuesday  in  June,  1786,  and  the  same  States  were 
again  represented.  The  Rev.  David  Griffith  of  Vir- 
ginia was  elected  President;  and  the  Hon.  Francis 
Hopkinson,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence, and  a  grandson  in  the  maternal   line  of  the 


390         HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

Bishop  of  Worcester,  was  chosen  Secretary.  The  let- 
ter of  the  EngHsh  prelates  was  read,  and  the  draught 
of  an  answer  adopted,  engrossed,  and  signed  by  the 
•members  present,  and  delivered  to  the  Committee  of 
Corresj)ondence  to  be  forwarded  to  England.  That 
Committee  had  power  to  call  the  Convention  together 
at  Wilmington,  Delaware,  when  a  majority  of  them 
should  judge  it  to  be  necessary.  They  had  learned 
that  political  obstacles  no  longer  hindered  the  success 
of  their  application ;  for  the  Minister  at  the  Court  of 
St.  James,  the  late  President  of  Congress,  and  the 
Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs,  had  all  furthered  the 
pious  design  of  securing  the  Episcopate,  and  shown 
to  the  Primate  of  England  that  it  was  not  likely  to 
receive  any  discountenance  from  the  civil  powers  of 
our  land.  "It  was  a  prudent  provision  of  the  Con- 
vention," says  Bishop  White,  "to  instruct  the  depu- 
ties from  the  respective  States  to  apply  to  the  civil 
authorities  existing  in  them,  respectively,  for  their 
sanction  of  the  measure,  in  order  to  avoid  one  of  the 
impediments  w^hich  had  stood  in  the  way  of  Bishop 
Seabury." 

In  regard  to  the  doubts  of  their  continuing  to  hold 
the  same  essential  articles  of  faith  and  discipline,  they 
assured  their  Lordships  that  they  neither  had  de- 
parted, nor  proposed  to  depart  from  the  doctrines  of 
the  Church  of  England.  "We  have  retained,"  said 
the  Convention,  "the  same  discipline  and  forms  of 
worship,  as  far  as  was  consistent  with  our  civil  con- 
stitutions; and  we  have  made  no  alterations  or  omis- 
sions in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  but  such  as 
that  consideration  prescribed,  and  such  as  were  calcu- 
lated to  remove  objections,  which  it  appeared  to  us 


m  CONNECTICUT.  391 

more  conducive  to  union  and  general  content  to  ob- 
viate than  to  dispute.  It  is  well  known  that  many 
great  and  pious  men  of  the  Church  of  England  have 
long  wished  for  a  revision  of  the  Liturgy,  which  it 
was  deemed  imprudent  to  hazard,  lest  it  might  be- 
come a  precedent  for  repeated  and  improper  altera- 
tions. This  is  with  us  the  proper  season  for  such  a 
revision.  We  are  now  settling  and  ordering  the  af- 
fairs of  our  Church,  and  if  wisely  done,  we  shall  have 
reason  to  promise  ourselves  all  the  advantages  that 
can  result  from  stability  and  union,"  They  added,  in 
conclusion:  "As  our  Church  in  sundry  of  these  States 
has  already  proceeded  to  the  election  of  persons  to  be 
sent  for  consecration,  and  others  may  soon  proceed  to 
the  same,  we  pray  to  be  favored  with  as  speed}'-  an 
answer  to  this  our  second  Address,  as  in  your  great 
goodness  you  were  pleased  to  give  to  our  former 
one." 

At  this  June  session  of  the  Convention  it  was  found 
necessary  to  review  the  Constitution  proposed  in  1785; 
and,  besides  other  changes,  the  Eighth  Article,  the 
tenor  of  which  had  been  particularly  excepted  to  by 
the  Eastern  clergy,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  by  the  Eng- 
lish prelates,  was  so  altered  as  to  restrict  to  a  Bishop 
the  power  of  pronouncing  upon  any  one  in  Holy 
Orders  sentence  of  deposition  or  degradation  from 
the  ministrv.  The  different  State  Conventions  had 
given  such  instructions  to  their  delegates,  in  regard 
to  some  of  the  former  proceedings,  that  prudence 
dictated  the  'propriety  of  leaving  the  General  Consti- 
tution and  the  proposed  Liturgy  for  future  settlement. 
They  had  indeed  no  authority  to  ratify  the  one,  or 
revise  and  adopt  the  other.    But  the  Convention  went 


392         HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

out  of  its  way  to  strike  an  unhappy  blow  at  Connec- 
ticut, a  blow  which  she  keenly  felt,  and  which  threat- 
ened to  be  productive  of  lasting  discord  and  disunion. 
The  session  had  no  sooner  opened  than  an  attempt 
was  made  to  require  "the  clergy  present  to  produce 
their  letters  of  orders,  or  declare  by  whom  they  were 
ordained;"  and,  though  unsuccessful,  it  was  renewed  on 
the  same  day,  in  a  more  offensive  shape,  by  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Provoost,  who  had  already  been  the  originator  of 
a  similar  movement  in  his  own  State.  His  motion, 
"That  this  Convention  will  resolve  to  do  no  act  that 
shall  imply  the  validity  of  ordinations  made  by  Dr. 
Seabury,"  was  defeated:  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and 
South  Carolina  voting  in  the  affirmative;  and  Penn- 
sylvania, Delaware,  Maryland,  and  Virginia,  in  the 
negative.  Then  it  was  "resolved  unanimously.  That 
it  be  recommended  to  this  Church  in  the  States  here 
represented,  not  to  receive  to  the  pastoral  charge, 
within  their  respective  limits,  clergymen  professing 
canonical  subjection  to  any  Bishop,  in  any  State  or 
country,  other  than  Bishops  who  may  be  duly  settled 
in  the  States  represented  in  this  Convention."  So 
acood  a  man  as  Dr.  White  was  the  mover  of  this  reso- 
lution,  which  he  afterwards  explained  as  intended  to 
reach  the  alleged  fact  that  those  ordained  under  the 
Scottish  succession  and  settling  in  the  represented 
churches  were  understood  by  some  to  be  under  ca- 
nonical subjection  to  the  ordaining  Bishop.  But  the 
only  clergyman  in  the  Convention  (Joseph  Pilmore) 
who  had  received  his  Orders  from  Dr.  Seabury,  de- 
nied that  any  such  canonical  subjection  had  been  ex- 
acted of  him;  and  Dr.  White  himself,  though  offering 
the  resolution  as  a  prudent  precaution,  professed  to 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  393 

believe  that  there  was  no  ground  for  the  allegation. 
The  next  morning  the  point  was  pushed  yet  farther, 
on  the  motion  of  a  clergyman  from  South  Carolina, 
when  it  was  again  unanimously  resolved,  "That  it 
be  recommended  to  the  Conventions  of  the  Church, 
represented  in  this  General  Convention,  not  to  admit 
any  person  as  a  Minister  within  their  respective  limits, 
who  shall  receive  ordination  from  any  Bishop  residing 
in  America  during  the  application  now  pending  to  the 
English  Bishops  for  Episcopal  consecration."  "What 
a  ridiculous  figure  must  they  make,"  wrote  Mr.  Bass 
of  Newburyport  to  a  brother  clergyman,  after  hearing 
of  their  action,  "in  the  eyes  of  every  sectary  or  anti- 
Episcopahan!  In  the  name  of  wonder,  what  objec- 
tions can  be  made  against  the  validity  of  Dr.  Sea- 
bury's  ordinations,  that  may  not  as  Avell  be  made 
against  those  of  the  English  Bishops?" 

Thus  matters  stood  upon  the  reassembling  of  the 
Convention  at  Wilmington,  Delaware,  in  the  ensuing 
October,  to  hear  the  answer  of  the  Archbishops  of 
England  to  their  second  Address.  The  answer,  more 
favorable  than  had  been  expected,  was  framed  at  a 
meeting  of  the  Bishops  in  London  to  take  into  con- 
sideration the  whole  of  the  communications  which  had 
been  forwarded;  and  a  brief  extract  will  best  show 
their  sentiments  of  fraternal  regard,  and  their  solici- 
tude for  the  integrity  of  the  Church.  "It  was  im- 
possible," said  the  Archbishops,  writing  for  all  their 
brethren,  "not  to  observe  with  concern,  that,  if  the 
essential  doctrines  of  our  common  faith  were  retained, 
less  respect,  however,  was  paid  to  our  Liturgy  than 
its  own  excellence,  and  your  declared  attachment  to 
it,  had  led  us  to  expect;  not  to  mention  a  variety 


394  HISTORY   OF   THE    EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

of  verbal  alterations,  of  the  necessity  or  propriety  of 
which  we  are  by  no  means  satisfied,  we  saw  with 
grief  that  two  of  the  Confessions  of  our  Christian 
faith,  respectable  for  their  antiquity,  have  been  en- 
tirely laid  aside;  and  that  even  in  that  called  the 
Apostles'  Creed,  an  article  is  omitted  which  was 
thought  necessary  to  be  inserted,  with  a  view  to  a 
particular  heresy,  in  a  very  early  age  of  the  Church, 
and  has  ever  since  had  the  venerable  sanction  of  uni- 
versal reception.  Nevertheless,  as  a  proof  of  the  sin- 
cere desire  which  we  feel  to  continue  in  spiritual  com- 
munion with  the  members  of  your  Church  in  Amer- 
ica, and  to  complete  the  Orders  of  your  ministry,  and 
trustino;  that  the  communications  which  we  shall 
make  to  you,  on  the  subject  of  these  and  some  other 
alterations,  will  have  their  desired  effect,  we  have, 
even  under  these  circumstances,  prepared  a  Bill  for 
conveying  to  us  the  powers  necessary  for  this  purpose. 
It  will  in  a  few  days  be  presented  to  Parliament,  and 
we  have  the  best  reasons  to  hope  that  it  will  receive 
the  assent  of  the  Legislature.  This  Bill  will  enable  the 
Archbishops  and  Bishops  to  give  Episcopal  conseci-a- 
tion  to  the  persons  who  shall  be  recommended,  with- 
out requiring  from  them  any  oaths  or  subscrij)tions 
inconsistent  with  the  situation  in  which  the  late  Revo- 
lution has  placed  them;  upon  condition  that  the  full 
satisfaction  of  the  sufficiency  of  the  persons  recom- 
mended, which  you  offer  to  us  in  your  Address,  be 
given  to  the  Archbishops  and  Bishops." 

This  "full  satisfaction"  had  reference  as  well  to  o^ood 
learning  and  doctrinal  soundness  as  to  purity  of  man- 
ners; and  under  the  head  of  subscription  they  re- 
marked: "We,  therefore,  most  earnestly  exhort  you, 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  395 

that,  previously  to  the  time  of  your  making  such  sub- 
scription, you  restore  to  its  integrity  the  Apostles' 
Creed,  in  which  you  have  omitted  an  article  merely, 
as  it  seems,  from  misapprehension  of  the  sense  in  which 
it  is  understood  by  our  Church ;  nor  can  we  help  add- 
ing, that  we  hope  you  will  think  it  but  a  decent  proof 
of  the  attachment  which  you  profess  to  the  services  of 
your  Liturgy,  to  give  to  the  other  two  Creeds  a  place 
in  your  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  even  though  the 
use  of  them  should  be  left  discretional.  We  should 
be  inexcusable  too,  if  at  the  time  when  you  are  re- 
questing the  establishment  of  Bishops  in  your  Church, 
we  did  not  strongly  represent  to  you  that  the  eighth 
article  of  your  Ecclesiastical  Constitution  appears  to 
us  to  be  a  degradation  of  the  clerical,  and  still  more  of 
the  Episcopal  character.  We  persuade  ourselves,  that 
in  your  ensuing  Convention  some  alteration  will  be 
thought  necessary  in  this  article,  before  this  reaches 
you;  or,  if  not,  that  due  attention  will  be  given  to 
it  in  consequence  of  our  representation." 

All  the  matters  so  earnestly  and  affectionately  rec- 
ommended by  the  EngUsli  prelates  received  the  prompt 
attention  of  the  Convention,  and  the  cherished  forms 
which  had  been  omitted  from  the  Liturgy  were  at 
once  replaced,  except  the  Athanasian  Creed,  which  it 
was  resolved  not  to  restore.  In  the  full  conviction 
that  the  negotiations  were  now  satisfactorily  con- 
cluded, a  third,  but  brief  address  was  adopted  by  the 
Convention,  and  the  members  proceeded  to  sign  tes- 
timonials in  the  form  prescribed  by  the  Archbishops 
in  favor  of  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Provoost,  Rev.  Dr.  Wil- 
liam White,  and  Rev.  David  Griffith,  Bishops  elect,  re- 
spectively, of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia. 


396  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

Two  of  these  gentlemen,  (Drs.  Provoost  and  White,) 
on  the  second  day  of  the  ensumg  month,  embarked 
for  England;  the  other  was  too  poor  to  bear  the  ex- 
pense of  the  journey,  and  the  Church  in  the  State 
over  which  he  was  to  preside  had  not  raised  the  requi- 
site funds  to  relieve  him  of  the  burden.  On  their 
arrival  in  London  they  were  introduced  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  by  Mr,  Adams,  the  American 
Ambassador,  "who,  in  this  particular,  and  in  every 
instance  in  which  his  personal  attentions  could  be 
either  of  use  or  an  evidence  of  his  respect  and  kind- 
ness, continued  to  manifest  his  concern  for  the  inter- 
ests of  a  Church  of  which  he  was  not  a  member." 
After  some  delay,  they  were  consecrated  in  the  Chapel 
of  Lambeth  Palace,  on  the  4th  of  February,  1787,  by 
the  two  Archbishops,  assisted  by  the  Bishop  of  Bath 
and  Wells  and  the  Bishop  of  Peterborough;  and  to- 
wards the  end  of  the  same  month  they  returned  to 
America,  arriving  in  New  York  on  the  afternoon  of 
Easter  Sunday,  having  had  a  long  and  tempestuous 
voyage,  during  which  Bishop  Provoost  was  so  ill  that 
serious  apprehensions  were  felt  for  his  recovery. 

No  General  Convention  was  again  held  until  the 
summer  of  1789,  when,  in  obedience  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  first  article  of  the  Constitution,  Delegates 
from  the  States  previously  represented  reassembled 
in  Christ  Church,  Philadelphia,  —  Bishop  White  being 
present,  and  presiding  by  the  right  of  his  office. 

But  before  we  look  into  their  deliberations,  let  us 
come  back"  to  Connecticut,  and  examine  the  progress 
of  the  Church  here  during  this  critical  period  under 
the  Episcopate  of  Seabury.  No  canons  and  no  con- 
stitution had  been  adopted,  and  the  ecclesiastical  af- 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  397 

fairs  of  the  Diocese  were  wholly  managed  by  the 
Bishop  and  his  clergy,  who  assembled  at  stated  times, 
as  had  been  the  practice  of  the  Missionaries  before 
the  Revolution.  At  such  meetings  all  differences  be- 
tween clergymen,  and  all  troubles  in  parishes  were, 
if  possible,  adjusted,  and  candidates  for  orders  were 
examined,  recommended,  and  approved,  and  ordina- 
tions frequently  held.  The  Legislature  of  the  State 
had  enacted  a  general  law  to  protect  all  societies  and 
congregations  instituted  for  public  religious  worship; 
and  the  Church,  in  the  absence  of  anything  specially 
fitted  to  her  rules  and  customs,  was  obliged  to  pro- 
ceed under  this  enactment  in  organizing  and  estab- 
lishing her  parishes.  As  yet  the  number  of  clergymen 
was  insufficient  to  supply  the  old  cures,  and  another 
vacancy  was  created  in  February,  1787,  by  the  death 
of  Newton,  so  long  the  honored  Rector  of  the  church 
at  Ripton.  Zealous  efforts  however  were  made  to  ex- 
tend the  influence  of  Episcopacy,  and  churches  soon 
arose  at  Chatham  (now  Portland),  East  Haddam,  and 
Middle  Haddam,  on  the  Connecticut  River;  at  Granby 
and  Southington,  in  Hartford  County;  at  East  Plym- 
outh, Harwinton,  and  Northfield,  in  Litchfield  County; 
and  at  East  Haven,  Bethany,  Hamden,  and  Meriden,  in 
New  Haven  County.  The  organization  of  the  parishes 
in  Southington,  Meriden,  and  Hamden  was  due  to  the 
ministrations  of  the  Rev.  Reuben  Ives,  who,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  1788,  had  accepted  the  Rectorship  of  the 
church  in  Cheshire,  his  native  place,  for  two  thirds 
of  the  time,  with  the  privilege  of  occupying  the  re- 
maining third  in  Missionary  duties  in  the  neighboring 
towns.  The  church  in  New  Cambridge  (now  Bristol), 
which  had  been  occupied  for  thirty  years,  was  aban- 


398  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

doned  upon  the  erection  of  the  edifice  at  East  Plym- 
outh, then  more  conveniently  located  for  the  major- 
ity of  worshippers.  But  a  new  parish  was  organized 
in  Bristol  in  1834,  which  has  outstripped  its  neigh- 
bor in  prosperity,  and  has  the  promise  of  vigorous 
continuance.  On  the  28th  of  August,  1785,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Hubbard  "opened  the  Episcopal  Church  at  Beth- 
any by  the  name  of  Christ  Church,"  and  preached,  and 
administered  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism  to  seven  in- 
fants. The  church  at  New  London  (St.  James's)  was 
consecrated  September  20,  1787,  Bishop  Seabury  hav- 
ing previously  held  his  services  in  the  Court-House; 
but  he  administered  the  Holy  Communion,  usually 
every  Sunday,  in  the  large  parlor  of  the  parsonage. 

Everything  seemed  to  have  been  done  by  the  South- 
ern Conventions  to  alienate  the  affections  of  the  New- 
England  clergy,  especially  of  those  resident  in  Con- 
necticut, where  the  parishes  were  now  even  stronger 
than  in  New  York.  A  breach  once  made  in  a  family 
or  a  church  is  more  easily  widened  than  healed,  and 
the  fast  friends  of  the  American  Episcopate  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic  watched  the  threatened 
rupture  with  evident  anxiety.  The  civil  disabilities 
of  the  Scottish  Church  had  not  yet  been  removed  by 
Act  of  Parliament,  and  it  was  therefore  impossible, 
without  conflicting  with  the  State,  to  recognize  in 
England  the  Orders  of  Bishop  Seabury.  "But  with 
you"  in  America,  wrote  the  Rev.  Jacob  Duch^,  a  ref- 
ugee clergyman  from  Philadelphia,  then  in  London, 
and  accustomed  to  the  friendly  ear  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  "there  can  remain  but  one  point  to  be 
settled,  and  that  is  the  validity  of  his  consecration 
from  proofs  adduced  of  the  uninterrupted  succession 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  399 

in  the  Church  of  Scotland."  No  one  manifested  such 
personal  hostility,  and  persisted  in  such  uncourteous 
acts  towards  the  Bishop  of  Connecticut,  as  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Samuel  Provoost.  He  accused  him  of  intriffuins: 
to  defeat  the  application  for  the  English  Episcopate, 
and  was  prominent  among  the  "few  people  in  New 
York,  w^ho,  from  old  grudges  on  the  score  of  politics, 
had  determined  to  circumscribe,  as  far  as  they  possi- 
bly could,  his  Episcopal  authority." 

The  Connecticut  clergy,  alarmed  for  their  situation, 
and  bent  on  vindicating  their  own  rights,  prej^ared 
to  counteract  the  preposterous  measures  which  were 
leading  inevitably  to  a  schism  in  the  Church.  The], 
met  at  Wallingford  on  the  27th  of  February,  1787 
and,  apprehensive  that  they  might  be  compelled 
to  fall  under  the  defective  Southern  establishment, 
should  the  providence  of  God  deprive  them  of  their 
Episcopal  Head,  they  decided  to  send  another  Pres- 
byter to  Scotland  for  consecration,  as  coadjutor  Bishop 
to  Dr.  Seabury.  The  able  and  faithful  Leaming  was 
first  selected  to  undertake  the  voyage;  but  the  same 
reasons  which  had  caused  him  to  decline  the  former 
election  operated  now  in  still  greater  force.  Then 
the  guileless  and  godly  Mansfield  was  chosen;  but  he 
shrunk  from  the  burden  as  one  too  oppressive  for  him 
to  bear;^  and  finally  the  Rev.  Abraham  Jarvis  was 
elected,  and  deputed  to  proceed  to  Scotland  for  con- 
secration. "It  was  intended,"  said  his  learned  son,  re- 
marking on  the  transaction,  "to  obtain  the  canonical 
number  of  Bishops  in  New  England  of  the  Scottish 
line,  and  thus  preserve  a  purely  primitive  and  Apos- 
tolic Church,  holding  fast  the  form  of  sound  words, 
and  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints." 

1  Church  Documents,  "Vol.  11.  p.  306. 


400         HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

These  steps  were  taken  with  due  precaution.  Dr 
Seabury,  who  had  kept  up  a  correspondence  with 
Bishop  Skinner  of  Scotland,  informed  him  at  once  of 
the  action  of  the  clergy,  and  spoke  of  it  not  only  with 
approval,  but  with  the  hope  that  it  might  have  "the 
full  approbation  of  his  good  and  highly  respected 
brethren  in  Scotland,"  whose  answer  would  be  awaited 
before  the  person  fixed  upon  departed  for  the  voyage. 
Delays  are  not  always  dangerous;  and  when  Bishop 
Skinner,  for  himself  and  the  Scottish  prelates,  re- 
phed  to  this  communication,  the  summer  had  come, 
and  "the  English  Consecrate"  had  arrived  in  Amer- 
ica. He  suggested  that  they  could  hardly  refuse  their 
brotherly  assistance  in  the  measure  desired,  or  yet 
take  upon  them  to  impose  their  own  Liturgy  as  the 
sole  condition  of  compliance.  "Should  this  be  the 
case,"  said  he,  "and  these  new  Bishops  either  refuse 
to  hold  communion  with  you,  or  grant  it  only  on 
terms  with  which  you  cannot  in  conscience  comply, 
there  would  then  be  no  room  for  us  to  hesitate.  But 
fain  would  we  hope  better  things  of  these  your  Amer- 
ican brethren,  and  that  there  will  be  no  occasion  for 
two  separate  communions  among  the  Episcopalians 
of  the  United  States. 

"We  are  well  persuaded  that  neither  you  nor  your 
clergy  would  wish  to  give  any  unnecessary  cause  of 
disgust  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic;  and  prudence, 
you  must  be  aware,  bids  us  turn  our  eyes  to  our  own 
situation,  which,  though  it  affords  no  excuse  for  shrink- 
ing from  duty,  will,  at  the  same  time,  justify  our  not 
stepping  beyond  our  hne  any  farther  than  duty  re- 
quires." 

This  was  a  truly  catholic  letter,  breathing  a  most 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  401 

benevolent  spirit;  and  Bishop  Seabury,  in  answering 
it,  expressed  his  fears  that  the  suggestion  could  not 
be  immediately  acted  upon,  and  then  remarked:  "The 
public  papers  have  announced  that  the  Episcopal  clergy 
in  Scotland  now  [November  7,  1788]  pray  for  the 
King  by  name.  I  hope  it  is  true,  and  flatter  myself 
it  will  free  them,  ere  long,  from  many  embarrass- 
ments. I  shall  still  pursue  measures  for  uniting  with 
the  Southern  churches,  and  shall  acquiesce  in  any 
temis  consistent  with  sound  ecclesiastical  principles. 
But  I  cannot  give  up  what  I  deem  essential  to  Epis- 
copal government,  by  admitting  laymen  into  any 
share  of  it,  farther  than  the  external  or  temporal  state 
of  things  may  require.  To  subject  a  Bishop  to  the 
censure  of  a  consistory  of  Presbyters  and  Laynien, 
even  with  a  Bislioj)  at  their  head,  I  cannot  consent. 
From  that  thraldom  the  Church  in  Connecticut  must, 
if  it  please  God,  be  preserved,"  ^ 

Nor  was  he  slow  to  put  in  execution  his  good  pur- 
poses. Before  the  prudent  rej3ly  of  Bishop  Skinner 
was  written,  and  before  a  month  had  passed  away 
after  the  arrival  of  the  new  American  prelates.  Bishop 
Seabury  addressed  a  letter  of  friendly  congratulation 
to  his  most  unscrupulous  opponent,  and  kindly  in- 
vited him  to  be  present  at  a  stated  convocation  of  the 
clergy  of  Connecticut,  to  be  held  at  Stamford  on  the 
Monday  in  AVhitsun  week.  "You  must,"  said  he  in 
this  letter,  "be  equally  sensible  with  me  of  the  j)i'es- 
ent  unsettled  state  of  the  Church  of  England  in  this 
country,  and  of  the  necessity  of  union  and  concord 
among  all  its  members  in  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica, not  only  to  give  stability  to  it,  but  to  fix  it  on 

1  A7inals  of  Scottish  Episcopacy, 
2G 


402  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

its  true  and  proper  foundation.  Possibly  nothing  will 
contribute  more  to  this  end  than  uniformity  in  wor- 
ship and  discipline  among  the  churches  of  the  differ- 
ent States,  It  will  be  my  happiness  to  be  able  to 
promote  so  good  and  necessary  a  Avork;  and  I  take 
the  liberty  to  propose,  that,  before  any  decided  steps 
be  taken,  there  be  a  meeting  of  yourself  and  Bishop 
White  and  me,  at  such  time  and  place  as  shall  be 
most  convenient,  to  try  whether  some  plan  cannot 
be  adopted  that  shall,  in  a  quiet  and  effectual  way, 
secure  the  great  object  which  I  trust  we  should  all 
heartily  rejoice  to  see  accomplished.  For  my  own 
part,  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  most  likely 
method  will  be  to  retain  the  present  Common  Prayer 
Book,  accommodating  it  to  the  civil  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.  The  government  of  the  Church, 
you  know,  is  already  settled,  A  body  of  Canons  will, 
however,  be  wanted,  to  give  energy  to  the  govern- 
ment, and  ascertain  its  operation." 

In  a  like  spirit  of  fraternal  regard  he  addressed 
overtures  for  peace  and  union  to  Bishop  White,  who 
met  them  with  all  the  gentleness  and  placability  of 
his  nature,  and  expressed  himself  as  ready  to  join 
in  any  plan,  with  a  vicAV  to  this  noble  end,  not 
materially  different  from  that  set  forth  in  the  pro- 
posed Ecclesiastical  Constitution.  Other  persons  be- 
sides the  prelates  became  engaged  in  discussing  the 
points  at  issue.  Parker  of  Boston,  alive  to  the  ne- 
cessity of  union,  that  the  Church  throughout  the 
country  might  be  one  in  all  the  essentials  of  doctrine, 
discipline,  and  worship,  wrote  frequent  and  pacifica- 
tory letters  to  Bishop  White  and  to  the  Bishop  and 
clergy  of  Connecticut.     His  prominence  had  marked 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  403 

him  out  for  a  mitre  in  the  minds  of  New-England 
churchmen  in  case  the  Episcopate  should  be  given  to 
Massachusetts/  but  he  was  much  more  anxious  to  see 
the  schism  which  was  threatened  avoided  than  to  at- 
tain  this  high  distinction.  The  beloved  and  venerated 
Leaming,  always  watchful  for  the  true  interests  of  the 
Church,  availed  himself  of  a  private  opportunity  to 
open  a  correspondence  with  the  Bishop  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  urge  the  same  great  ends.  Dr.  William 
Samuel  Johnson,  the  distinguished  statesman,  had 
been  appointed  one  of  the  Delegates  from  Connecti- 
cut to  attend  the  Convention  in  Philadelphia,  which 
was  charged  with  the  business  of  framing  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution;  and  he  was  not  only  a  medium  of 
conveying  the  letters  and  messages  of  his  Pastor  to 
him,  but  he  must  have  impressed  Bishop  White  with 
the  truth  and  justness  of  what  Dr.  Leaming  had  writ- 
ten in  closing  his  first  communication,  that  "The 
Church  in  this  State  would  be  pleased  to  have  the 
old  forms  altered  as  little  as  may  be;  but  for  the  sake 
of  union,  they  will  comply  as  far  as  they  possibly  can. 
And  I  do  not  see  how  a  union  can  be  more  advan- 
tageous to  us  than  it  will  be  to  you.  If  it  is  recipro- 
cal, both  ought  to  give  way,  and  not  to  be  too  rigid." 
Another  letter,  written  three  weeks  later,  indicated 
the  nature  of  the  response  to  his  suggestions,  and  re- 
newed the  subject  with  increased  zeal  and  earnest- 
ness. What  he  wished,  as  a  first  step  towards  the 
union,  was  to  bring  the  three  Bishops  together  for 

1  Upon  the  decease  of  Bishop  Bass,  he  was  elected  his  successor,  and 
was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Massachusetts,  at  the  General  Convention  in 
New  York,  on  Friday  the  14th  of  September,  1804.  He  died  on  the  6th 
of  December  in  the  same  year,  and  before  he  had  discharged  a  single  duty 
of  the  Episcopal  o^ce. 


404  HISTORY   OF   THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

friendly  conference,  and  he  saw  no  impediment  in  the 
way  unless  Bishop  Provoost  persisted  in  his  refusal 
to  have  any  Christian  fellowship  with  one  towards 
whom  he  appears  to  have  cherished  a  deeply  seated 
animosity.  Clear  in  his  conviction  that  the  clergy  of 
New  York  did  not  share  in  the  prejudices  of  their 
chief  Pastor,  Learning  urged  the  personal  interview  as 
a  measure  that  would  raise  him  in  their  estimation,  and 
"fix  their  willing  obedience  to  him  all  his  life  after." 
On  this  ground  he  solicited  the  interposition  and  good 
offices  of  Bishop  White,  and  then  added:  "I  hope  you 
will  not  esteem  me  over-officious  in  this  business;  if 
you  do,  my  apology  is  this,  —  I  have  been  forty  years 
in  the  service  of  the  Church,  and  I  believe  I  am  the 
oldest  clergyman  in  America,  and  I  am  very  desirous 
to  see  it  complete  before  I  die.  God  bless  your  labors 
for  the  converting  of  sinners  and  the  building  up  of 
saints." 

The  real  argument  in  all  this  correspondence  was 
with  the  pens  of  the  North,  so  far  as  it  related  to  the 
advantage  and  necessity  of  one  united  Church;  and 
the  prospect  of  securmg  this  brightened  under  the 
conciliatory  course  of  Bishop  White,  and  the  kind 
mediation  of  the  clergy  of  Massachusetts  and  New 
Hampshire,  especially  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Parker.  He 
never  omitted  an  occasion  to  further  what  was  so 
much  in  his  heart  and  in  his  prayers;  and  as  the  time 
drew  near  for  the  meeting  of  the  General  Convention, 
he  was  at  the  head  of  a  measure  which  was  to  bring 
that  body  to  a  direct  decision  on  the  validity  of  the 
Scottish  Episcopacy,  with  a  view  to  the  three  Bishops, 
now  in  the  States,  joining  in  the  consecration  of  a 
fourth. 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  405 


CHAPTER   XXX. 

ELECTION  OF  BISHOP  FOR  MASSACHUSETTS  AND  NEW  HAMP- 
SHIRE; SIGNS  OF  CHRISTIAN  HARMONY;  GENERAL  CONVEN- 
TION AT  PHILADELPHIA;  COMPLETION  OF  THE  UNION  OF 
THE  CHURCH  IN  ALL  THE  STATES,  AND  ADOPTION  OF  THE 
BOOK  OF  COMMON   PRAYER. 

A.  D.    1789-1790. 

Six  Presbyters,  representing  the  Church  m  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  Hampshire,  met  at  Salem  on  the 
4th  day  of  June,  1789,  and  after  recording  theu*  grati- 
tude to  the  Supreme  Governor  of  the  universe  for  his 
goodness  in  "blessing  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  United  States,  by  supplying  it  with  a  complete 
and  entire  Ministry,  and  by  affordmg  to  many  of  her 
communion  the  benefit  of  the  labors,  advice,  and  gov- 
ernment of  the  successors  of  the  Apostles,"  they  pro- 
ceeded to  "nominate,  elect,  and  appoint"  their  chair- 
man, the  Rev.  Edw^ard  Bass,  to  be  their  Bishop,  and 
promised  and  engaged,  over  their  own  signatures,  to 
receive  him  as  such  when  canonically  consecrated 
and  invested  with  the  Apostolic  office  and  powers. 
They  then  addressed  the  Bishops  of  Connecticut,  New 
York,  and  Penns3dvania,  praying  for  their  united  as- 
sistance in  consecrating  their  brother;  and  authorized 
and  empowered  the  Rev.  Samuel  Parker  to  transmit 
copies  of  their  action  to  each  of  these  prelates,  and 
also   appointed   him   "their  agent   to   appear  at  any 


406  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

Convention  to  be  holden  at  Pennsylvania  or  New 
York,  and  to  treat  upon  any  measures  that  might 
tend  to  promote  an  union  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
throughout  the  United  States  of  America,  or  that  might 
prove  advantageous  to  the  interests  of  said  Church." 

The  Convention  commencing  its  session  in  Phila- 
delphia, July  28,  1789,  was  the  first  which  assembled 
on  this  continent  in  the  full  likeness  of  that  ancient 
council  at  Jerusalem,  composed  of  Apostles,  and  elders, 
and  brethren.  Fortunately  Bishop  Provoost  was  ab- 
sent j  and  Mr.  Parker,  unable  to  be  present  himself, 
communicated  his  instructions  to  Bishop  White,  who 
laid  them  before  the  Convention,  together  with  two  let- 
ters from  Dr.  Seabury, — one  addressed  to  Dr.  Smith, 
and  the  other  to  himself, — expressing  the  hope  that 
all  difficulties  might  be  removed,  and  reiterating  the 
grand  objection  in  Connecticut  to  the  power  of  Lay 
delegates  in  the  proposed  Constitution,  that  "  it  made 
them  part  of  a  judicial  consistory  for  the  trial  and  dep- 
rivation of  clergymen."  The  signs  of  Christian  har- 
mony at  once  grew  more  distinct,  for  upon  the  read- 
ing of  these  letters  it  was  "Resolved  unanimously, 
that  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Convention,  that  the  con- 
secration of  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Seabury  to  the  Epis- 
copal office  is  valid."  That  was  a  great  step  in  ad- 
vance of  all  former  proceedings.  It  put  to  rest 
forever  a  matter  which  had  been  the  occasion  of 
many  misapprehensions,  and  opened  the  door  for 
perfect  reconciliation.  A  melancholy  event,  too,  had 
its  chastening  effect  upon  the  members.  The  Rev. 
David  Griffith,  D.  D.,  who  had  relinquished  his  ap- 
pointment as  Bishop  elect  of  Virginia,  and  had  come 
as  a  delegate  from  that  State  to  the  Convention,  died, 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  407 

after  an  acute  illness,  on  the  sixth  day  of  the  session, 
at  the  house  of  Bishop  White ;  and  among  the  resolu- 
tions of  respect  to  his  memory  which  were  adopted, 
was  one  "that  the  clergy  of  all  denominations  withm 
the  city  be  invited  to  attend  his  funeral." 

With  feelings  tinged  by  the  sorrow  of  this  event, 
the  Convention  approached  the  deliberate  considera- 
tion of  the  act  of  the  clergy  of  Massachusetts  and 
New  Hampshire,  and  finally,  with  entire  unanimity, 
resolved  that  ''a  complete  order  of  Bishops,  derived 
as  well  under  the  English  as  the  Scots  line  of  Epis- 
cojDacy,  doth  now  subsist  within  the  United  States 
of  America;"  and  that  Bishops  White,  Provoost,  and 
Seabury  were  fully  competent  to  every  proper  act 
and  duty  of  the  Episcopal  office  and  character  in  this 
country,  as  well  in  respect  to  the  consecration  of  other 
Bishops,  and  the  ordering  of  Priests  and  Deacons,  as 
for  the  government  of  the  Church,  according  to  such 
rules,  canons,  and  institutions  as  then  existed,  or  here- 
after might  be  duly  made  and  ordained.  Another  res- 
olution embraced  a  formal  request  to  Bishops  White 
and  Provoost  to  join  with  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Seabury 
in  consecrating  the  Bishop  elect  of  the  Eastern  clergy ; 
proposing,  however,  that,  previous  to  such  consecra- 
tion, the  churches  in  the  New-England  States  should 
meet  in  this  Convention,  to  be  adjourned  for  that 
purpose,  and  settle  certain  articles  of  union  and  dis- 
cipline among  all  the  churches.  If  any  difficulty  or 
delicacy  remained  with  the  two  first-named  Bishops, 
or  either  of  them,  concerning  their  compliance  with 
the  request,  the  Convention  resolved  to  address  the 
Archbishops  and  Bishops  of  England,  hoping  thereby 
to  remove  the  difficulty  and  enable  them  freely  to 
proceed. 


408  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

The  author  and  mover  of  these  resolutions  was  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Smith,  who  afterwards  referred  to  his  course 
herein  as  the  happiest  incident  of  his  hfe,  and  the  best 
service  he  had  ever  been  able  to  render  to  the  Church. 
With  Bishop  White,  he  was  placed  upon  the  com- 
mittee to  prepare  the  address  to  the  English  prelates, 
to  forward  the  necessary  answers  to  the  communica- 
tions which  had  been  received,  and  also  to  notify  the 
Right  Rev.  Dr.  Seabury,  and  the  Eastern  and  other 
churches  not  yet  represented  in  the  Convention,  of 
"the  time  and  place  to  which  it  Avould  adjourn,  and 
request  their  attendance  at  the  same,  for  the  good 
purposes  of  union  and  general  government." 

Thus  the  wall  which  had  so  long  stood  between 
the  two  great  parties  was  effectually  broken  down; 
and  though  Provoost  had  sagacity  enough  to  foresee 
this  result,  yet  as  late  as  February  24,  1789,  he  was 
still  implacable;  for,  writing  to  his  Episcopal  brother 
in  Philadelphia,  and  referring  to  Connecticut,  he  said: 
"An  invitation  to  the  Church  in  that  State  to  meet 
us  in  General  Convention,  I  conceive  to  be  neither 
necessary  nor  proper;  not  necessary,  because  I  am 
informed  that  they  have  already  appointed  two  per- 
sons to  attend  the  next  General  Convention,  without 
our  invitation;  not  proper,  because  it  is  so  publicly 
known  that  they  have  adopted  a  form  of  church  gov- 
ernment which  renders  them  inadmissible  as  members 
of  the  Convention  or  union." 

The  action  previously  described  will  prove  how 
little  regard  was  paid  to  his  prejudices  and  personal 
dislikes.  Bishop  White  shared  with  him  in  the  convic- 
tion that  they  were  both  under  implied  pledges  to  the 
English  prelates  not  to  join  in  the  act  of  consecration 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  409 

until  there  were  three  Bishops  in  this  country  of  the 
AngUcan  hue,  —  that  being  the  canonical  number  of 
consecrators  j  but  he  did  not  share  with  him  in  his 
views  of  the  validity  of  the  Scottish  Episcopacy.  On 
that  point  he  was  entirely  satisfied ;  and  if  he  did  not 
attempt  to  remove  the  scruples  of  his  stubborn  brother, 
he  certainly  made  the  amiable  effort  to  conciliate  him, 
and  brino:  him  into  the  current  that  was  driftinq-  them 
all  towards  union,  peace,  and  love. 

No  sooner  had  Bishop  Seabury  learned  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Convention,  and  received  the  "truly  re- 
spectable invitation"  to  be  present  at  its  adjourned 
meeting,  than  steps  were  taken  to  comply  with  the 
request.  The  second  article  of  the  General  Constitu- 
tion had  been  so  amended  as  to  wholly  remove  his 
first  and  chief  difficulty  respecting  Lay  representa- 
tion, and  that,  too,  upon  the  good  and  wise  principle 
which  he  had  himself  laid  down,  namely,  "that  there 
may  be  a  strong  and  efficacious  union  between 
churches  where  the  usages  are  in  some  respects  dif- 
ferent." 

A  special  Convention  of  the  clergy  of  Connecticut 
was  held  in  Stratfield,  September  15th,  1789,  to  delib- 
erate upon  the  invitation  fl'om  Philadelphia.  Dr. 
Leaming  presided  in  the  absence  of  the  Bishop ;  and 
the  letters  and  papers  relative  to  a  general  union 
having  been  read,  it  was  voted,  on  motion  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Bowden,  that  the  Convention  would  send 
cleiical  delegates.  The  next  day  Hubbard  and  Jar- 
vis  were  chosen,  and  "empowered  to  confer  with 
the  General  Convention  on  the  subject  of  making 
alterations  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer;  but 
the  ratification  of  such  alterations  was  expressly  re- 


410         HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

served,  to  rest  with  the  Bishop  and  clergy  of  the 
Church." 

The  way  was  particularly  smoothed  for  the  cordial 
reception  of  the  New-England  delegates.  The  Rev. 
Dr.  Smith  offered  the  hospitalities  of  his  house  to  the 
Bishop  of  Connecticut,  and  begged  him  to  join  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Moore  of  New  York  in  making  it  his  home 
during  his  stay  in  Philadelphia.  Now  that  the  way 
had  been  prepared  by  others,  he  could  not  do  too  much 
to  further  the  grand  scheme  of  perfect  harmony  and 
brotherly  agreement ;  and  in  communicating  the  action 
of  the  Convention  upon  the  application  of  the  Eastern 
clergy,  he  closed  his  letter  to  Bishop  Seabury  thus: 
"The  College  of  Philadelphia  have,  on  Dr.  White's 
recommendation  and  mine,  granted  the  degree  of 
D.  D.  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bass  and  Mr.  Parker,  which 
we  thought  a  proper  compliment  to  the  New-England 
churches.  We  are  sorry  we  forgot  to  pay  the  same 
compliment  to  the  venerable  old  Mr.  Leaming,  of  the 
Connecticut  Church.  I  hope  he  will  accompany  you 
to  Philadelphia,  and  receive  that  compliment  from  us 
in  person,  if  he  has  nowhere  else  received  it  before."  ^ 

The  Convention  met,  pursuant  to  adjournment,  on 
the  29th  day  of  September,  and  Bishop  Seabury  with 
the  representatives  of  the  clergy  in  Connecticut,  and 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Parker  of  Boston,  attended  and  produced 
their  official  documents  and  testimonials.  Some  minds 
were  still  angry  and  unsettled,  and  a  danger  on  the 
score  of  politics  arose  immediately  upon  their  arrival. 
Bishop  Seabury  had  been  chaplain  to  a  British  regi- 
ment during  the  war;  and  the  fact  that  he  was  now 
a  pensioner  of  the  Crown,  receiving  half-pay  for  his 

1  He  received  it  from  Columbia  College,  N.  Y.,  the  same  year. 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  411 

services,  had  come  to  the  knowledge  of  certain  Lay 
delegates  who  professed  to  entertain  scruples  in  re- 
gard to  the  propriety  of  admitting  him  as  a  member 
of  the  Convention.  But  the  mild  and  judicious  reply 
of  the  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania  to  the  only  gentleman 
who  approached  him  on  the  subject  seemed  to  allay 
all  uneasiness,  and  the  objection  was  either  withdrawn 
or  not  renewed.  On  the  second  day  of  the  session, 
for  the  better  promotion  of  union,  it  was  resolved  that 
the  General  Constitution  established  at  the  previous 
meeting  was  still  open  to  amendment  and  alterations, 
by  virtue  of  the  powers  delegated  to  this  Convention; 
and  a  Committee,  appointed  to  confer  with  the  Dep- 
uties from  the  Eastern  churches,  after  "a  full,  free, 
and  friendly  conference,"  reported  their  acceptance 
of  the  Constitution  as  already  adopted, — provided  the 
third  article  was  so  modified  as  to  declare  explicitly 
the  right  of  the  Bishops,  when  sitting  in  a  separate 
House,  to  originate  acts  for  the  concurrence  of  the 
lower  House,  with  a  negative  on  its  proceedings. 

The  main  point  was  readily  conceded,  and  the  other 
was  made  the  subject  of  future  determination.  Bishop 
Seabury  and  the  Clerical  Deputies  from  New  Eng- 
land assented  in  writing  to  the  Constitution  as  thus 
altered  and  amended,  —  the  third  article  of  which  re- 
quired that  "the  Bishops  of  this  Church,  when  there 
shall  be  three  or  more,  shall,  whenever  General  Con- 
ventions are  held,  form  a  separate  House."  The  requi- 
site number  was  now  secured,  though  Bishop  Pro- 
voost  was  absent,  and  the  two  Houses  were  estab- 
lished, and  proceeded  to  the  concurrent  work  of 
adopting  a  body  of  canons  and  revising  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer.     The  primary  rule  laid  down  for 


412         HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

the  government  of  the  House  of  Bishops  was  "that  the 
senior  Bishop  present  shall  preside, — seniority  to  be 
reckoned  from  the  dates  of  the  letters  of  consecra- 
tion,"—  a  rule  which  gave  the  Presidency  to  the 
Bishop  of  Connecticut. 

To  these  two  prelates,  with  different  moulds  of  char- 
acter and  opposite  tendencies  of  thought,  the  Church 
in  this  country  is  chiefly  indebted  for  the  establish- 
ment of  its  order  and  worship  upon  a  safe,  sound,  and 
permanent  basis.  The  prevaiUng  tone  of  sentiment 
in  the  Southern  States,  both  as  to  doctrine  and  dis- 
cipline, was  low  and  uncertain,  while  in  Connecticut 
there  was  the  strongest  attachment  to  the  old  Lit- 
urgy, to  the  model  of  Apostolic  order,  and  the  distinc- 
tive articles  of  the  Christian  faith.  Bishop  White, 
with  natural  kindness  of  heart  and  a  temper  of  mind 
leaning  to  those  counsels  which  bore  most  faintly  the 
impress  of  his  own  communion,  might  have  consented 
to  many  of  the  changes  and  innovations  marked  out 
in  the  ritual  of  the  "Proposed  Book,"  had  he  not  met 
in  his  associate  counsellor  a  wise  and  vigorous  resist- 
ance. They  were  precisely  the  men  to  bring  together 
in.  such  an  emergency;  for,  by  their  mutual  conces- 
sions and  forbearance  in  matters  not  essential,  that 
happy  mean  betwixt  too  much  rigidity  in  refusing 
and  too  much  facility  in  yielding  was  preserved,  and 
a  result  attained  which  for  more  than  three  quarters 
of  a  century  has  given  rest  and  contentment  to  all 
shades  of  views  embraced  within  the  bosom  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church.  Their  united  and  har- 
monious action  turned  aside  every  threatened  danger. 
They  took  as  their  guides  the  old  forms  and  offices; 
but  Bishop  Seabury  advocated  the  introduction  into 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  413 

the  Communion  Service  of  the  prayer  of  oblation  and 
invocation  as  it  now  stands,  —  a  pra}'er  which  the  Eng- 
Hsh  reviewers  had  omitted  from  the  Liturgy  of  Ed- 
ward the  Sixth,  but  which  he  heartily  desired  to  see 
restored,  because  he  had  adopted  it  in  his  own  Diocese, 
and  learned  to  appreciate  it  in  his  visit  to  the  Bishops 
from  whom  he  received  his  consecration.  He  was  a 
conservative  element  in  the  Convention,  and  felt  that 
"Scarcely  with  anything  besides  is  the  wellbeing  of 
the  Church  bound  uj)  so  closely  as  with  the  full  or- 
thodoxy of  its  Liturgy."  "To  this  day,"  sa^'s  Bishop 
White,  in  the  second  edition  of  his  Memoirs,  published 
shortly  before  his  death,  "there  are  recollected  with 
satisfaction  the  hours  which  were  spent  with  Bishop 
Seabury  on  the  important  subjects  which  came  before 
them,  and  especially  the  Christian  temper  which  he 
manifested  all  along."  The  two  Houses  prosecuted 
the  review  of  the  Liturgy  in  the  spirit  of  men  who  ex- 
pected the  benediction  of  Heaven  upon  their  labors, — 
the  Bishops  originating  alterations  in  some  services, 
and  the  House  of  Clerical  and  Lay  Deputies  propos- 
ing others. 

The  result  of  the  session,  besides  completing  the 
general  union,  was  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  as 
then  established  and  now  used;  and  there  are  con- 
stantly recurring  evidences  to  illustrate  its  adapta- 
tion to  the  needs  and  necessities  of  "all  sorts  and  con- 
ditions of  men."  It  has  gone  where  the  voice  of  the 
living  preacher  had  never  been  heard.  It  has  spoken 
the  story  of  redemption  into  the  ears  of  thousands, 
and  drawn  them  wdthin  our  fold,  and  given  them  the 
comfort  of  its  worship  and  the  support  of  its  sacra- 
ments.    While  some  of  the  Christian  bodies  about  us 


414        HISTORY  OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

are  feeling  the  want  of  our  peculiar  advantages,  and 
sighing  in  private  for  Liturgical  forms  to  give  more 
attraction  to  public  prayer  and  praise;  wliile  aca- 
demic institutions  once  wedded  to  a  different  practice 
now  seek  in  dainty  Rituals  to  guide  the  scanty  devo- 
tion of  the  youths  and  make  them  mount  up  Avith 
wings  as  eagles;  while  all  around  there  are  voices 
that  laud  the  majestic  inheritance  of  our  Liturgy,  and 
the  copious  treasury  of  doctrine  and  sacred  songs  con- 
tained therein,  let  m  hold  fast  to  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer,  and  cherish  it,  not  only  as  the  beautiful 
child  of  the  Reformation,  but  as  a  precious  legacy  be- 
queathed to  us  by  the  men  to  whose  wisdom  we  owe 
so  much  for  settling,  at  a  critical  period,  the  doctrine, 
disciphne,  and  worship  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States. 

Though  the  measures  for  union  had  all  terminated 
happily,  Dr.  Bass  declined  the  office  to  which  he  had 
been  appointed,  and  thus  those  prelates  who  enter- 
tained scruples  about  proceeding  to  consecrate  until 
another  in  the  Anglican  line  should  be  present,  were 
put  to  no  further  test.  But  some  3^ears  afterwards  he 
was  again  unanimously  elected  Bishop  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  duly  consecrated  in  Christ  Church,  Philadel- 
phia, May  7th,  1797. 

Fifteen  clergymen,  besides  the  Bishop,  assembled 
in  Convocation  at  Litchfield,  on  the  2d  day  of  June, 
1790,  and,  "by  particular  desire,  attended  divine  ser- 
vice in  the  Presbyterian  meeting-house,"  when  the 
Bisliop  ordained  the  Rev.  Truman  Marsh  to  the  Priest- 
hood, and  preached  the  sermon.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Leam- 
ing  was  placed  at  the  head  of  a  Committee  to  draw 
up  rules  and  canons  for  regulating  the  discipline  of 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  415 

the  Chiirch  in  Connecticut, — the  first  time  that  any- 
thing of  this  sort  had  been  attempted ;  but  the  most 
important  action  was  upon  the  Constitution  and  can- 
ons of  the  Church,  formed  by  the  late  General  Con- 
vention. These  were  read,  and  after  a  short  examina- 
tion, the  further  consideration  of  them  was  postpioned 
until  the  last  day  of  September,  when  the  Convocation 
met  by  adjournment  at  Newtown,  and  eighteen  of 
the  clergy  in  the  Diocese  assembled  with  the  Bishop. 
The  question  was  put  in  these  words:  "Whether  we 
confirm  the  doings  of  our  Proctors  in  the  General 
Convention  at  Philadelphia  on  the  2d  day  of  October, 
1789?"  and  it  was  decided  in  the  affirmative  by  the 
votes  of  every  member  present,  except  the  Rev.  James 
Sayre.  He  entered  his  Protest  against  the  proceed- 
ings, which,  at  his  desire,  was  recorded,  and  the  next 
day  he  withdrew  and  left  the  Convocation.  It  shows 
the  extreme  caution  which  was  observed,  that  the 
mode  of  introducing  the  Constitution  and  Liturgy 
into  the  several  parishes  was  left  to  the  prudence  and 
judgment  of  each  clergyman.  Uniformity  in  the  use 
of  the  new  Prayer  Book  was  desirable,  and  for  this 
purpose  they  agreed  to  approach  as  near  the  old  Lit- 
urgy as  a  compliance  with  the  rubrics  of  the  new 
would  allow.  The  Nicene  Creed  was  read  on  Com- 
munion Sundays,  and  the  Apostles'  Creed  on  all  other 
days.  But  the  change  from  established  customs  is 
seldom  easy;  and  whether  the  people  loved  to  have 
it  so  or  not,  some  of  the  clergy  of  that  day  never 
learned  to  carry  out  in  full  practice  the  literal  mean- 
ing of  the  rubrical  directions  of  the  new  Prayer 
Book. 

One  noble  soldier  of  the  cross,  "not  yet  fifty  years 


416  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

old,"  who  had  participated  largely  in  the  efforts  to  re- 
establish the  Church  in  Connecticut,  after  the  events 
of  the  Revolution,  laid  down  his  armor  and  went  to 
his  rest  before  the  final  results  w^ere  accomplished. 
The  Rev.  John  R.  Marshall  died  on  the  21st  of  Jan- 
uary, 1789,  m  the  eighteenth  year  of  his  ministry, 
and  just  as  its  richer  fruits  began  to  cheer  his  benev- 
olent heart.  The  venerable  Dr.  Leamiu"-,  l^endino; 
under  the  weight  of  age  and  decrepitude,  and  fairly 
worn  out  in  the  service  of  the  Church  amid  such  disas- 
trous times,  withdrew  from  the  parish  in  Stratford,  after 
having  been  in  charge  of  it  for  six  years,  and  retired 
for  a  season  to  New  York.  But  he  subsequently  re- 
turned to  Connecticut,  and  was  received  at  New  Ha- 
ven into  the  house  of  a  former  friend,  whose  kindness 
and  protection  he  desired,  and  where  he  passed  the 
remainder  of  his  life,  chiefly  in  the  solitude  of  his  own 
room,  waiting  patiently,  like  Job,  "all  the  days  of 
his  appointed  time  till  his  change  came."  Whoever 
enters  the  old  Cemetery  in  New  Haven,  and  passes 
near  the  south-east  corner,  will  find  his  humble  grave ; 
and  the  epitaph  upon  the  tombstone  in  this  case  tells 
no  untruth  when  it  says  that  he  was  "long  a  faith- 
ful minister  of  the  Gospel  in  the  Ej)iscopal  Church; 
well  instructed,  especially  in  his  holy  office;  unre- 
mitting in  his  labors;  charitably  patient,  and  of  prim- 
itive meekness.  His  public  discourses  forcibly  mcul- 
cated  the  faith  illustrated  by  his  practice.  Respected, 
revered,  and  beloved  in  life,  and  lamented  in  death, 
he  departed  hence  September  15,  1804,  aged  eighty- 
seven." 

The  Church  in  Connecticut  had  now,  as  far  as  hu- 
man foresight  could  discern,  passed  through  all  the 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  417 

great  perils  which  once  threatened  her  peace  and 
perpetuity.  Her  zealous  Bishop  was  adding  year  by 
year  to  the  list  of  his  clergy  more  than  death  took 
away,  and  the  care  w^iich  he  used  to  advance  none 
to  the  sacred  office  but  fit  and  godly  persons  con- 
tinued to  disarm  prejudice  of  its  power,  and  weaken 
the  intolerance  of  sectarianism.  As  the  pathway  of 
the  Lord  amidst  the  mighty  waters  is  secret,  so  is  the 
presence  of  His  blessed  Spirit  in  the  Church  unseen 
but  felt, — reviving  love  and  purity,  and  giving  life 
and  strength,  peace  and  advancement. 

27 


418         HISTORY  OF    THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  LAITY  INTO  THE  COUNCILS  OF  THE 
CHURCH;  COURSE  OF  THE  REV.  JAMES  SAYRE;  AND  CONSE- 
CRATION OF   THE  FIRST  BISHOP   IN  AMERICA. 

A.    D.   1790-1792. 

A  College  of  Doctors  of  Divinity  was  established 
by  the  Bishop  and  clergy  of  Connecticut,  at  the  Con- 
vocation held  in  Newtown,  to  be  considered  as  the 
Bishop's  council  of  advice  in  any  emergencies  that 
might  arise,  and  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Dibblee,  Mansfield, 
Hubbard,  and  Jarvis  were  the  first  four  Doctors. 
The  origin  of  this  measure  in  our  ecclesiastical  pro- 
ceedings may  be  referred  to  Scotland,  where  the 
Bishops  to  this  day  never  will  recognize  the  honor 
of  the  Doctorate  from  any  Presbyterian  institution. 
Perhaps  their  feeling  in  regard  to  it  springs  from  what 
was  anciently  an  Episcopal  prerogative,  and  of  which 
traces  are  yet  to  be  found  in  foreign  universities. 
With  a  view  to  perpetuate  this  body,  "the  instal- 
ment of  Doctors,"  never  less  than  four  nor  more  than 
six,  unless  by  consent  of  the  Convocation,  was  to  be 
by  "Diploma  from  the  College  of  Doctors,  and  an- 
nounced in  pubhc  by  the  Bishop"  at  the  next 
meeting. 

The  publication  of  these  acts  was  ordered  at  the 
time;  but  whether  from  the  inexpediency  or  unpop- 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  419 

ularity  of  the  thing  in  a  Puritan  land,  where  the  Epis- 
copal prerogatives  and  dignity  were  still  suspected,  or 
because  the  Canons  of  the  General  Convention  had 
provided  for  the  appointment  of  a  Standing  Com- 
mittee to  act  as  the  Bishop's  council  of  advice  in  each 
Diocese,  we  hear  no  more  of  this  College  of  Doctors 
after  the  year  1792.  However  reluctant  they  might 
have  been  to  assume  the  honor  thus  conferred  upon 
them,  they  appear  to  have  been  a  body  of  some  ser- 
vice in  those  critical  times.  For  when  the  Committee 
appointed  in  1790,  "to  prepare  Canons  for  the  inter- 
nal government  of  the  Church  in  Connecticut,"  made 
their  report,  it  was  ordered  "  that  the  Canons  reported 
be  revised  and  completed  by  the  Bishop  and  the  Col- 
lege of  Doctors,  and  laid  before  the  next  Convoca- 
tion." Three  of  the  "first  four  Doctors"  had  the 
honor  confirmed,  or  rather  conferred  upon  them  at 
later  dates,  by  the  corporation  of  Yale  College;  and 
the  remaining  one,  Mr.  Dibblee,  was  doctorated  by 
Columbia  College,  New  York. 

The  first  Standing  Committee,  as  required  by  a 
Canon  of  the  General  Convention,  was  appointed  at 
a  Convocation  held  in  Watertown,  October  5,  1791, 
and  consisted  of  five  members,  all  clergymen.  From 
that  day  to  this,  with  the  exception  of  one  year,  Avhen 
the  Diocese  was  under  the  provisional  charge  of  Bishop 
Hobart,  who  was  accustomed  to  a  different  practice 
in  New  York,  the  election  of  the  Standing  Committee 
in  Connecticut  has  been  restricted  to  the  clerical 
order. 

At  the  same  Convocation, — after  the  parishes,  fol- 
lowing the  lead  of  the  clergy,  had  conformed  to  the 
use  of  the  new  Prayer  Book,  and  acquiesced  in  the 


420  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

general  Constitution, — the  first  movement  was  made 
to  introduce  the  Laity  into  the  councils  of  the  Church. 
The  vote  on  the  subject  was  very  guarded,  and  to  the 
effect  that  each  clergyman  should  recommend  to  the 
people  of  his  cure  to  choose  one  or  more  persons  to 
represent  them  at  a  Convocation  to  be  holden  at 
the  church  in  New  Haven,  on  the  30th  of  May  suc- 
ceeding,— "which  representatives  were  to  be  consid- 
ered as  a  Committee  of  Conference  with  the  Convo- 
cation, at  that  time  and  place,  on  all  matters  that 
respected  the  temporal  interest  of  the  Church." 

Another  Convocation  was  held  in  the  intemiediate 
time,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter;  but  the  primary  "Con- 
vention of  the  Bishop,  Clergy  and  Laiiij  of  the  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  Church  in  Connecticut,"  forty-four  mem- 
bers in  all,  and  twenty-four  laymen,  assembled  in  Trin- 
ity Church,  New  Haven,  the  first  week  in  June,  1792, 
and  the  chief  business  of  the  session  was  to  frame 
and  agree  upon  an  Ecclesiastical  Constitution,  "to 
be  laid"  in  a  printed  form  "before  the  several  parishes 
in  the  Diocese  for  their  approbation  and  adoption." 
But  this  was  not  the  only  important  action  taken 
previous  to  the  adjournment.  The  lay  members  re- 
solved to  send  Delegates  to  the  next  General  Con- 
vention, which  was  appointed  to  be  held  at  New 
York;  and  accordingly  they  chose  four  and  the  clergy 
four,  the  full  number  of  each  order  allowed  to  a  Dio- 
cese or  State. 

When  the  annual  Convention  met  at  Middletown, 
June  5th,  1793,  twenty  clergymen,  besides  the  Bishop, 
were  present,  and  twenty-one  lay  Delegates,  the  latter 
representing  the  Church  in  every  county  of  Connect- 
icut.    It  appeared  by  the  report  of  their  doings,  and 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  421 

by  the  certificates  exhibited,  that  the  Constitution  had 
been  fully  approved  and  accepted  by  the  majority  of 
the  parishes;  but  those  in  Litchfield,  New  Preston, 
Northbury,  and  Redding  had  acted  upon  it  and  only 
adopted  it  in  part.  They  were  urged  to  give  it  a 
second  consideration,  and  make  returns  to  the  next 
annual  Convention;  and  thus  the  Constitution  was 
approved  and  became  henceforth  the  law  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Church  throughout  the  Diocese,  ex- 
cept in  one  or  two  parishes  where  some  dissatisfaction 
was  still  manifested.  As  yet,  no  definite  provision  had 
been  made  for  the  support  of  the  Bishop.  He  was 
chiefly  dependent  upon  his  people  at  New  London  for 
the  bread  that  maintained  his  family.  A  few  of  the 
parishes  made  him  donations.  Trinity  Church,  New 
Haven,  in  the  autumn  of  1785,  directed  the  sum  of  ten 
pounds  to  be  paid  him;  and  two  years  afterwards  a 
like  amount  was  voted  by  the  Vestry,  provided,  how- 
ever, that  this  donation  should  not  be  considered  as 
a  precedent  for  any  future  claims  upon  the  parish  by 
the  Bishop.  Steps  were  early  taken  by  the  Conven- 
tion to  estabUsh  a  fund,  and  application  was  made  to 
the  General  Assembly  to  incorporate  a  certain  num- 
ber of  Trustees  for  the  purpose  of  recei\ing  and  hold- 
ing donations  for  the  support  of  the  Bishop ;  but  Sea- 
bury  was  in  his  grave  before  the  prayer  of  the  peti- 
tioners was  granted. 

The  Protest  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Sayre  against  the  ap- 
proval of  the  proceedings  of  the  General  Convention 
in  Philadelphia  placed  him  in  uncomfortable  relations 
to  his  Bishop  and  brethren,  and  involved  the  parishes 
over  which  he  presided  for  a  time  in  perplexity  and 
trouble.     Since  the  resignation  and  retu*ement  of  Dr. 


422  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

Leamhig,  at  Easter  1790,  he  had  been  m  charge  of 
the  Church  at  Stratford;  and  behig  fresh  in  the  field, 
and  full  of  Christian  earnestness,  he  gained  an  influ- 
ence over  the  people  which  he  unhappily  used  to  their 
disadvantage.     He  accompanied  his  opposition  to  the 
new  Prayer  Book  and  the  General  Constitution  with 
much  bitterness  of  feeling  and  personal  abuse,  —  traits 
of  character  which  he  had  shown  at  Newport,  Rhode 
Island,  where  the  displeasure  of  a  divided  parish  fell 
ujDon  him  before  he  came  to  Connecticut,     Speedy  ef- 
forts were  made  by  the  Bishop  and  clergy  to  neutralize 
his  influence,  and  bring  the  people  under  his  care  into 
harmonious  action  with  the  Diocese.     At  a  Convoca- 
tion in  East  Haddam,  February  15,  1792,  this  per- 
emptory vote  was  passed:  "That  unless  the  Wardens 
and  Vestrymen  of  Christ  Church  in    Stratford  shall 
transmit  to  the  Rt.  Rev.  the  Bishop  of  Connecticut, 
within  fourteen  days  after  Easter  Monday  next,  a  noti- 
fication   that  the   congregation  of  said  Church  have 
adopted  the  Constitution  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  as  settled  by  the  General  Convention  at  Phil- 
adelphia in  October,  1789,  they  (the  congregation) 
will  be  considered  as  having  totally  separated  them- 
selves from  the  Church  of  Connecticut."     That  godly 
man,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Shelton  of  Bridgeport,  acting  as 
Secretary  to  the  Convocation,  was  charged  with  the 
duty  of  communicating  this  vote  to  the  Church  in 
Stratford.     The   counsels  of  Dr.  Johnson,  a  layman 
worthy  of  the  days  of  Ignatius  and  of  Cyprian,  appear 
not  to  have  been  very  influential  at  this  time,  in  the 
venerable  parish  which  his  father  had  gathered  and 
served,  and  to  which  he  had  left  a  sacred  legacy  of 
peace  and  Christian  moderation.     But  he  had  been 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  423 

largely  occupied  in  his  profession  and  in  national 
affairs,  and  his  duties  had  separated  him  from  scenes 
of  local  interest.  Besides,  after  the  revival  of  Colum- 
bia College,  which  had  fallen  into  decay  during  the 
war,  he  accepted  the  Presidency  of  that  Institution, 
to  which  he  was  chosen  m  1787,  and  removed  to  New 
York.  He  filled  this  station  with  great  dignity  and 
usefulness  until  1800,  when  the  infirmities  of  advanc- 
ing age  compelled  him  to  resign  it,  and  he  retired  to 
his  native  village.  In  this  connection  it  is  proper  to 
mention  that  he  died  at  Stratford  on  the  14th  of 
November,  1819,  in  the  ninety-third  year  of  his  age; 
and  his  departure  was  soon  followed  by  that  of  the 
venerable  Dr.  Mansfield  of  Derby,  in  the  ninety- 
seventh  year  of  his  age,  and  the  seventy-second  of 
his  ministry.  Both  these  men,  of  varied  and  eventr 
ful  experience,  had  lived  to  see  the  Church  in  Connect- 
icut carried  through  long  periods  of  persecution,  perD, 
and  poverty,  and  finally  settled  in  peace,  and  with 
cheering  prospects,  under  the  Episcopate  of  him^ 
around  whose  bier  w^e  have  so  lately  gathered,  and 
whose  wise  and  paternal  administration  wiU  ever  live 
m  the  recollections  of  a  grateful  Diocese. 

But  the  parish  at  Stratford  had  a  judicious  adviser 
in  the  Kev.  John  Bowden.  The  loss  or  feebleness  of 
his  voice  had  obliged  him  to  rehnquish  the  public  ex- 
ercise of  the  ministry,  and  he  removed  with  his  fam- 
ily to  Stratford,,  as  a  suitable  place  to  open  and  con- 
duct a  school  of  a  higher  order  for  boys.  Tlie  ex- 
traordinary course  pursued  by  Mr.  Sayre,  and  the 
misapprehensions  which  he  had  been  the  means  of 

I  Right  Rev.  Thomas  Church  Brownell,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.  He  died  at 
Hartford,  January  13th,  1865,  and  was  buried  Tuesday  the  17th. 


424         HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

disseminating,  forced  him,  in  defence  of  himself  and 
of  the  Church,  late  in  the  autumn  of  1791,  to  prepare 
an  Address  to  the  people,  which  was  afterwards  printed 
and  circulated  in  the  parish.  "Take,  I  beseech  you," 
are  nearly  his  first  words,  "what  I  shall  say  to  you  in 
good  part.  I  do  not  mean  to  offend^  but  to  inform. 
Excuse  the  word  inform.  I  do  not  use  it  from  vanity, 
but  from  a  conviction  that  you  do  not  view  the  sub- 
ject in  its  true  light;  that  you  are  not  acquainted 
with  the.  principles  and  reasonings  and  facts  by  which 
the  conduct  of  the  Bishop  and  clergy  of  this  State,  in 
adopting  the  proceedings  of  the  Convention,  may  be 
triumphantly  vindicated.  You  ought,  indeed,  to  have 
presumed  that  they  acted  upon  the  best  reasons,  and 
from  the  purest  motives;  for,  let  me  say  it,  no  body 
of  clergy  have  ever  given  more  clear  and  imiform 
proofs  of  their  zeal  for  the  Church  than  the  clergy 
of  Connecticut.  I  know  them  well;  they  are  excel- 
lent men,  too  honest  to  sacrifice  the  Church  to  any 
worldly  motive  whatsoever,  and  too  well  acquainted 
with  its  constitution  to  be  led  into  error  unwittingly. 
You,  I  fear,  have  had  them  and  their  conduct  held  up 
in  a  very  different  light.  God  forgive  those  who  have 
done  them  this  wrong!" 

To  the  Address  was  appended  "a  Letter  to  the  Rev. 
Mr.  James  Sayre,"  —  the  two  making  a  pamphlet  of 
thirty-nine  pages;  and  in  this  Letter  Mr.  Bowden 
showed  the  violent  spirit  of  the  refractory  clergyman, 
and  his  disregard  of  the  peace,  unity,  and  authority 
of  the  Church,  endeavoring,  as  he  had,  both  from  the 
pulpit  and  in  private,  to  impress  the  people  with  an 
idea  that  the  Bishop  and  his  clergy  had  subverted  the 
foundations  of  faith,  and  opened  the  way  for  the  in- 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  425 

troduction  of  dangerous  heresies.  "I  am  curious  to 
know,"  said  the  writer,  in  conclusion,  "what  a  man 
can  say  for  himself  who  opposes  the  sense  and  author- 
ity of  the  whole  Episcopal  Church  in  America;  who 
has  led  a  congregation  into  a  separation  that  must  in 
a  few  years  end  in  their  ruin;  who  has,  in  a  variety 
of  instances,  most  shamefully  misrepresented;  who 
has  treated  his  brethren  with  the  utmost  contempt, 
and  poured  upon  them  the  most  profuse  abuse.  You 
have,  I  know,  sir,  an  excellent  talent  at  coloring;  but 
whether  your  colors  will  be  fit  for  the  public  eye  on 
this  occasion,  the  trial  alone  can  determine." 

Mr.  Sayre  finally  withdrew  from  the  unhappy  con- 
troversy, after  having  been  put  under  the  ban  of 
ecclesiastical  censure,  and  denied  by  the  clergy  of 
the  Diocese  the  use  of  their  pulpits.  The  members 
of  the  parish,  influenced  b}^  better  counsels,  returned 
to  their  duty;  and  on  the  1st  of  April,  1793,  the  Eev. 
Ashbel  Baldwin,  then  of  Litchfield,  was  in^dted  to  the 
Rectorship,  which  he  accepted,  —  officiating  two  thirds 
of  the  time  in  Stratford,  and  devoting  the  remainder 
to  the  Church  at  Tashua. 

But  Mr.  Sa}Te  sowed  the  seeds  of  discontent  in  an- 
other parish  with  which  he  had  connection,  and  where 
the  evil  effects  lingered  longer.  At  AYoodbury  the 
people  were  partial  to  his  ministrations;  and  s^nnpa- 
thizing  with  him  in  his  troubles,  and  believing  in  the 
sincerity  of  his  course,  they  refused  to  adopt  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  Diocese,  and  thus  became  isolated  and 
without  pastoral  care.  For  the  clergy,  at  a  Convoca- 
tion held  in  New  Milford  on  the  25th  of  September, 
1793,  decided,  that  in  the  execution  of  their  minis- 
terial office  they  could  not  pay  any  attention  to  them 


426  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

until  they  acceded  to  the  Constitution  of  the  Church 
in  Connecticut. 

The  parish  in  Woodbury  addressed  a  formal  com- 
munication to  the  Bishop  and  clergy  respecting  their 
vote;  but  without  answering  it,  at  their  next  meeting 
in  New  Haven,  June  5th,  1794,  they  appointed  the 
"Rev.  Messrs.  Ives,  Marsh,  and  Perry  a  Committee  for 
the  purpose  of  accommodating  matters  with  the  Epis- 
copal congregation  at  Woodbury,  and  reconciling  them 
to  a  union  with  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church."  In 
the  fulfilment  of  their  aj)pointment,  this  Committee 
met  the  people  in  their  church  on  the  7th  of  the  en- 
suing month,  and  suspending,  for  the  time,  the  opera- 
tion of  the  original  vote,  went  into  a  review  of  the 
Constitution,  and  exj)lained  it  in  a  manner  so  satisfac- 
tory that  all  former  objections  were  removed,  and  the 
parish  with  great  unanimity  adopted  it,  and  thus  re- 
gained its  old  position  in  the  Diocese.  If  Mr.  Sayre 
had  attached  himself  to  the  ministry  of  another  de- 
nomination, he  could  have  been  of  little  service  in  it, 
for  his  mind  was  diseased,  a  fact  hitherto  unknown, 
and  "actual  insanity"^  terminated  his  life  in  1798.  He 
left  in  Fairfield,  of  which  place  his  wife  was  a  native, 
seven  children,  most  of  whom  continued  "zealous  and 
useful  Episcopalians."  He  was  a  brother  of  the  Rev. 
John  Sayre,  the  Missionary  in  that  place  when  it  was 
burnt  by  the  British  troops,  and  he  appears  to  have 
had,  like  him,  a  very  checkered  history.  He  was 
educated  to  the  law,  and  admitted  to  its  practice  at 
New  York  in  1771;  but  abandoning  this  profession,  he 
entered  the  sacred  ministry,  and  became  a  chaplain 
in  one  of  the  King's  battalions.     He  resigned  in  1777, 

1  Hitchcock's  History  of  the  Church  in  Woodbury. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  427 

"impelled  by  distress,  severity  of  treatment,  and  by 
duty."^  The  professors  of  the  Church  of  England  in 
Stratford  and  Milford,  "having  long  been  destitute  of 
the  regular  administration  of  God's  Avord  and  sacra- 
ments in  the  manner  in  which  their  consciences  di- 
rected them  to  Avorship  the  Father  of  spirits,"  peti- 
tioned the  General  Assembly  in  1782  for  the  favor 
of  permitting  Mr.  Sayre,  then  at  Brooklyn,  Long 
Island,  to  come  among  them,  and  "preach  on  proba- 
tion for  the  space  of  three  or  four  months,  under  such 
inspection  and  observation  as  their  Honors  should 
think  proper;"  but  such  had  been  his  course  during 
the  war  that  the  favor  was  refused. 

Not  a  ripple  was  now  left  upon  the  surface  of  the 
Church  in  Connecticut.  All  was  peace.  "Jerusalem 
was  builded  as  a  city  that  is  compact  together,"  and  the 
united  action  and  energy  of  the  clergy  and  laity  fore- 
tokened under  God  the  blessing  of  "prosperity  within 
her  palaces."  The  care  to  admit  to  Holy  Orders  none 
but  fit  and  godly  persons;  the  watchfulness  to  preserve 
a  body  of  ministers  wdtli  pure  characters  and  strict 
devotion  to  their  sacred  office;  the  efforts  to  establish 
an  Institution  of  classic  learning,  begun  before  the 
final  settlement  of  the  Church  in  the  State,  and  which 
ended  in  the  erection  of  the  Episcopal  Academy  at 
Cheshire  in  1795;  the  enlargement  of  the  old  churches 
and  the  buikling  of  new  ones,  and  furnishing  others 
with  organs  to  make  public  worship  more  attractive 
and  soul -inspiring;  the  Christian  benevolence  of  the 
laity  in  thus  giving  for  the  house  of  God  when  their 
own  dwellings  were  low  and  narrow ;  the  Missionary 
zeal  of  the   clergy,  their  learning,  their  piety,  their 

1  Sabine,  Vol.  II.  p.  265. 


428         HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL    CHURCH 

faith,  their  spirit  of  self-sacrifice, — all  these  are  feat- 
ures which  rise  to  view  in  contemplating  the  Church 
shaking  herself  from  the  dust,  putting  on  her  beauti- 
ful garments,  and  going  forth  into  the  waste  places  of 
the  land  to  gather  those  who  "with  the  heart  believe 
unto  ri2:liteousness  and  with  the  mouth  make  confes- 
sion  unto  salvation." 

A  point  in  relation  to  the  general  interests  of  the 
Church  must  not  be  passed  over  without  some  notice. 
In  the  autumn  of  1792  the  second  Triennial  Conven- 
tion assembled  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  Bishop 
Seabury,  agreeably  to  a  previous  request,  preached 
the  sermon.  Since  the  last  meeting  the  House  of 
Bishops  had  received  an  accession  to  its  members. 
The  Church  in  Virginia  having  elected  the  Rev. 
James  Madison,  D.  D.,  to  be  their  Bishop,  he  pro- 
ceeded immediately  to  England,  and  was  consecrated 
on  the  19th  of  September,  1790,  by  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  and  the  Bishops  of  London  and  Roches- 
ter. Thus  the  scruples  of  the  two  American  prelates, 
referred  to  in  a  former  chapter,  were  set  at  rest,  and 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  this  country  was 
furnished  with  three  Bishops  in  the  Anglican  line  of 
succession.  The  courtesies  of  private  life  are  often 
interrupted  by  official  acts;  and  the  Bishop  of  Con- 
necticut had  not  exchanged  visits  with  the  Bishop  of 
New  York  since  the  validity  of  the  Scottish  consecra 
tions  had  been  called  in  question.  But  etiquette  now 
required  that  he  should  wait  upon  him,  and  through 
the  intervention  of  mutual  friends  the  way  was  pre- 
pared, and  Bishop  Provoost  received  him  civilly  and 
gave  him  an  invitation  to  dinner  on  the  same  day, 
which  was  accepted. 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  429 

But  "there  was  another  matter,"  says  Bishop  White, 
"which  threatened  the  excitement  of  personal  resent- 
ments." At  the  Convention  of  1789  it  had  been  es- 
tabUshed  as  a  rule  for  the  government  of  the  House 
of  Bishops  that  the  senior  Bishop  present  should  pre- 
side,—  seniority  to  be  reckoned  from  the  dates  of  the 
letters  of  consecration.  But  the  two  prelates,  Pro- 
voost  and  Madison,  now  to  sit  for  the  first  time  in 
the  House,  were  dissatisfied  with  this  rule;  and  when 
Bishop  Seabury  became  convinced  that  the  object  was 
not  to  exclude  him  from  any  share  in  the  approach- 
ing consecration,  he  gracefully  waived  his  right,  and 
allowed  the  rule  to  be  altered  so  as  to  give  the  Presi- 
dency in  rotation,  beginning  from  the  north,^  and  hav- 
ing reference  to  the  last  Convention. 

This  made  Bishop  Provoost  the  presiding  officer  on 
the  present  occasion,  and  the  consecrator  of  the  Rev. 
Thomas  John  Claggett,  D.  D.,  who  had  been  elected 
Bishop  of  Maryland;  and  the  Deputies  from  that  State 
now  applied  for  his  elevation  to  the  AjDOstolic  office. 
The  four  assembled  Bishops  joined  in  the  solemn  act 
on  the  17th  of  September;  and  thus  the  English  and 
Scottish  lines  of  succession  were  blended  in  this  first 
consecration  of  a  Bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  on  the  soil  of  America. 

Connecticut  was  represented  in  the  General  Con- 
vention of  1792  by  two  lay  Delegates,  and  her  influ- 
ence was  felt  in  every  important  measure  relating  to 
the  Canons,  the  Liturgy,  or  the  Articles  of  religion. 
The  American  Church  was  at  length  complete  in  all 
its  parts  and  functions,  and  able  to  expand  itself  as 

^  The  first  rule  was  readopted  in  1804,  and  has  ever  since  been  fol' 
lowed. 


430  HISTORY   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

God  might  give  it  grace  and  opportunity.  But  no- 
where in  our  land  were  the  parishes  rising  more  rap- 
idly from  the  depressions  consequent  upon  the  Revo- 
lutionary War  than  in  this  primal  Diocese.  Her  clergy 
at  this  period  outnumbered  those  of  her  sister  Dio- 
cese (New  York);  and  at  an  ordination  held  in  Mid- 
dletown  on  the  5th  of  January,  1793,  six  persons  were 
admitted  to  the  Diaconate  and  Priesthood,  —  among 
whom  were  the  two  Blakeslees,  Burhans,  Butler,  and 
Charles  Seabury,  a  son  of  the  Bishop,  all  then,  or  sub- 
sequently, exercising  their  ministry  in  Connecticut. 

It  is  to  be  lamented  that  no  complete  record  of  the 
earliest  confirmations  is  to  be  found.  The  number  to 
whom  Bishop  Seabury  administered  the  Apostolic  rite 
must  have  been  large,  embracing  not  only  the  "suffi- 
ciently instructed"  among  the  youth,  but  all  the  com- 
municants of  the  Church  at  the  time  of  his  first  visita- 
tion. For  there  had  been  no  opportunity  in  this  coun- 
try to  ratify  and  confirm  baptismal  vows,  and  persons, 
in  the  absence  of  a  Bishop,  had  been  admitted  to  the 
Communion  upon  their  readiness  and  desire  to  be  con- 
firmed. It  was  a  fittino-  reo-ard  to  historic  associations 
that  the  first  Episcopal  visit  should  be  made  to  the  ven- 
erable parish  at  Stratford/  but  we  can  find  neither  the 
names  nor  the  number  of  those  confirmed.  A  Com- 
mittee was  chosen  by  the  parish  at  Waterbury,  May  1st, 
1786,  "to  wait  on  the  Bishop  at  Stratford,  and  desire 
him  to  visit  them;"  and  he  complied  with  their  desire; 
and  on  the  1st  day  of  October  in  the  same  year  it  is 
recorded  that  he  confirmed  in  that  parish  two  hundred 
and  fifty-six  persons.  Mr.  Hubbard  entered  in  his 
Parochial  Register  the  baptism  of  a  child  in  Trinity 

1  Paddock's  Hist.  Dis.  Stratford,  1855,  p.  35. 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  431 

Church  by  Bishop  Seabiiry  on  the  4th  of  June,  1786; 
but  no  mention  is  anywhere  made  of  the  rite  of  Con- 
firmation. 

A  third  church,  of  wood,  to  take  the  place  of  that 
in  which  the  venerated  Beach  had  lifted  up  his  loyal 
voice  to  the  end  of  the  Revolution,  was  finished  at 
Newtown  in  1792,  and  was  long  the  largest  house  of 
Episcopal  worship  in  the  State.  It  is  standing  yet, 
in  good  condition,  "an  ensign  on  a  hill;"  and  though 
sanctuaries  have  been  built  in  the  neighboring  dis- 
tricts, and  have  gathered  their  attendants,  still  this  is 
the  Christian  home  on  earth  of  a  great  multitude  who 
arise  at  the  sound  of  the  "Sabbath  bell"  and  move 
towards  its  hallowed  portals, — 

"  Till  pressing  thickly  through  the  village  street, 
Around  the  church  from  far  and  wide  they  meet." 


432         HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 


CHAPTER  XXXn. 

INFIDELITY;  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  ACADEMY 
OF  CONNECTICUT;  THIRD  GENERAL  CONVENTION;  AND  DEATH 
OF  BISHOP  SEABURY. 

A.  D.    1792-1796. 

The  frequent  convocations  of  the  clergy,  sometimes 
three  in  a  year,  kept  them  informed  of  the  state  of 
the  parishes  and  of  the  work  which  each  was  doing 
in  the  service  of  his  Divine  Master.  Old  prejudices 
against  the  Church,  her  forms,  and  her  doctrines  had 
not  all  disappeared,  and  it  was  needfid  occasionally 
to  defend  her  from  unjust  attacks,  but  the  bitterness 
of  former  controversies  was  not  revived.  The  battle 
now  was  rather  of  another  kind.  For  upon  our  eman- 
cipation from  the  mother-country,  everything  seemed 
to  be  turned  into  a  new  channel,  even  thoughts  and 
opinions.  A  body  of  speculators  in  morals,  rehgion, 
and  poUtics  arose  and  threatened  to  entail  mischief 
upon  the  rising  generation.  The  school  of  French 
philosophers  was  just  looked  into,  and  in  some  places 
received  with  evident  favor.  "My  own  memory,"  said 
the  late  Chief  Justice  Church,  in  a  centennial  address 
delivered  at  Litchfield  m  1851,  "runs  back  to  a  divid- 
ing point  of  time,  when  I  could  see  something  of  the 
old  world  and  new.  Infidel  opinions  came  in  like  a- 
flood.  Mr.  Paine's  *Age  of  Reason,'  the  works  of 
Voltaire,  and  other  deistical   books,  were  broadcast, 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  433 

and  young  men  suddenly  became,  as  they  thought, 
wiser  than  their  fathers;  and  even  men  in  high  places 
among  us  here  were  suspected  of  infidel  ojDinions.  At 
the  same  time  came  the  ardent  preachers  of  Mr.  Wes- 
ley's divinity,  who  were  engaged  in  doing  battle  with 
Infidelity  on  the  one  hand,  and  Cahdnistic  theology 
on  the  other." 

The  Church,  with  her  Liturgy  and  Order,  was  a 
power  between  these  ''antagonistic  forces  and  influ- 
ences." She  advised  and  drew  to  "the  old  paths  and 
the  good  way."  She  was  a  defender  of  "the  faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints."  Built  on  "the  founda- 
tion of  the  Prophets  and  Apostles,  with  Jesus  Christ 
for  the  chief  corner-stone,"  she  spurned  the  teachings 
of  infidel  casuistry;  and  her  clergy,  finding  access  to 
the  works  of  the  best  English  Divines,  learned  to  feed 
their  flocks  with  food  that  nourished  their  souls  and 
kept  them  from  wandering  into  the  dry  pastures  of 
doubt  and  speculation.  It  has  been  recorded  of  Bishop 
Seabury,  that,  as  he  approached  nearer  and  nearer  to 
the  conclusion  of  his  foithful  ministry,  he  frequently 
directed  the  attention  of  his  clergy  and  people  to  that 
mighty  mystery  of  Faith — the  Holy  Trinity — which 
every  true  believer  is  required  to  keep  "whole  and 
undefiled."  And  when  the  question  was  put  to  him 
why  he  thought  it  needful  to  insist  so  much  upon  a 
doctrine  whose  importance  was  nowhere  in  the  land, 
among  professedly  Christian  men,  doubted  or  denied, 
his  reply  contained  a  prediction,  the  fulfilment  of 
which  has  passed  into  our  religious  history.  "I  seem 
to  see,"  said  he,  "that  a  time  will  come  when,  in  New 
England,  this  very  doctrine,  which  now  appears  so 
safe,  will  be  extensively  corrupted  and  denied;  and  I, 

28 


434  HISTORY   OF  THE  EPISCOPAL   CHURCH 

would  have  it  remembered  that  to  the  last  I  lifted  up 
my  voice  in  its  defence." 

Nineteen  clergymen  and  twenty-two  laymen  com- 
posed the  Convention  which  met  at  New  Haven  in 
June,  1794.  The  chief  business  of  the  session  was  to 
mature  the  measures  to  establish  the  Episcopal  Acad- 
emy of  Connecticut,  and  renew  the  application  to  the 
General  Assembly  for  an  Act  incorporating  the  Trus- 
tees of  the  Bishop's  Fund.  Though  the  laity  had  been 
admitted  to  a  share  in  the  councils  and  legislation  of 
the  Church,  and  worked  harmoniously  with  the  clergy 
in  all  that  concerned  its  temporal  and  spiritual  wel- 
fare, the  Convocations  were  still  appointed  by  the 
Bishop,  and  continued  to  be  the  source  of  plans  and 
of  discipline,  and  the  agent  for  receiving,  directing, 
examining,  and  approving  candidates  for  Holy  Orders. 
The  manuscript  record  of  the  proceedings  of  this  body 
is  often  fuller  than  the  printed  Journal  of  the  Con- 
vention, and  throws  light  upon  points  which  would 
otherwise  remain  in  obscurity.  The  clergy,  at  their 
meeting  in  the  autumn  of  1792,  took  the  preliminary 
steps  to  revise  the  Articles  of  Religion  in  the  English 
Prayer  Book;  and  Bowden,  Mansfield,  Hubbard,  and 
Jarvis  were  empowered  to  make  the  revision,  and 
present  it  for  their  approval  at  the  next  Convocation. 
It  does  not  appear  what  alterations  they  made;  but 
their  revision  at  the  appointed  time  was  examined, 
and,  with  a  few  changes,  approved  as  far  as  to  the 
seventeenth  Article, — the  consideration  of  which,  with 
those  that  follow,  was  referred  to  a  future  meeting. 
Bishop  Seabury  had  expressed  his  doubts,  at  the  first 
General  Convention  in  Philadelphia,  about  the  expe- 
diency of  having  any  Articles,  beHeving  that  the  Lit- 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  435 

urgy  comprehended  all  necessary  doctrine ;  and  whether 
in  deference  to  his  wishes  or  not,  no  further  action, 
of  which  any  record  can  be  found,  was  taken  in  the 
matter  during  his  Episcopate. 

He  wrote  a  letter,  in  obedience  to  the  wishes  of  the 
clergy  assembled  at  Cheshire  in  November,  1794,  ad- 
monishing the  Rev.  David  Perry  of  Ridgefield  for  "his 
neglect  to  attend  the  meetings  of  his  brethren,  and 
on  account  of  the  apparent  contempt"  which  he  there- 
by threw  on  them  and  on  his  Bishop.  He  stated,  in 
conclusion,  that  they  "wished  to  inquire  of  him  con- 
cerning several  reports  which  were  circulating  in  the 
country  to  his  disadvantage  as  a  clergyman,  and  unless 
he  did  attend  on  their  next  meeting,  according  to  the 
notification  of  their  Secretary,  a  suspension  from  his 
clerical  office  would  be  issued  against  him." 

The  next  meeting  was  early  in  the  ensuing  June,  at 
Stratford,  the  time  and  place  appointed  for  holding  the 
Annual  Convention  of  the  Diocese.  Mr.  Perry  appeared, 
and  requested  of  the  Bishop  and  his  clergy  "liberty 
to  resign  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  parishes  of  Ridge- 
field, Redding,  and  Danbury,  as  well  as  to  relinquish 
totally  the  exercise  of  the  ecclesiastical  function." 
His  request  was  granted,  and  "the  resignation  of  his 
Letters  of  Orders  accepted;"  and  he  returned  to  the 
practice  of  medicine,  a  profession  which  he  had  pur- 
sued previous  to  his  ordination.  Proper  inquiries 
were  made  into  the  state  of  the  cure  thus  vacated; 
and  in  due  time,  David  Butler,  who  had  "used  the 
office  of  a  Deacon  well"  in  North  Guilford,  was  trans- 
ferred to  its  charge.  The  Annual  Convention  in 
Stratford  at  this  time  numbered  nineteen  clergymen 
and  twenty-three  lay  delegates.    The  proceedings  were 


436  HISTORY   OF  THE   EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

mainly  directed  to  the  final  establishment  of  the  Epis- 
copal Academy,  and  to  the  subscription  papers  which 
had  been  issued  for  the  purpose  of  raising  a  sufficient 
fund  to  carry  it  into  operation.  It  was  the  first  insti- 
tution of  the  kind  strictly  belonging  to  the  Church 
in  New  England,  and  one  of  the  first  in  the  country; 
and  the  agenc}^  of  the  Rev.  Eeuben  Ives  was  probably 
beyond  that  of  any  other  man  in  securing  its  location 
at  Cheshire.  The  care  which  was  shown  in  "framing 
a  code  of  laws  for  its  temporary  government,  and  also 
in  forming  a  constitution  upon  the  most  liberal  and 
beneficial  plan,"  proved  that  it  was  the  design  to 
erect  it  into  a  College;  and  under  Bowden,  its  first 
honored  and  accomplished  Principal,  chosen  by  the 
Convention,  that  design  was  fostered  and  ripened 
ultimately  into  repeated  applications  to  the  General 
Assembly  for  an  enlargement  of  its  charter  to  colle- 
giate poAvers. 

In  the  autumn  of  1795  the  third  General  Conven- 
tion assembled  in  Philadelphia,  but  no  representation 
from  Connecticut  appeared.  Three  clerical  and  three 
lay  delegates  had  been  chosen  by  the  last  Diocesan 
Convention,  but  not  one  of  them  was  present,  and 
their  absence  may  have  been  due  to  some  cause  be- 
sides positive  inconvenience. 

Bishop  Seabury  forwarded  a  communication  to 
Bishop  White,  respectfully  and  affectionately  com- 
plaining of  an  encroachment  upon  his  Episcopal  pre- 
rogatives within  the  limits  of  Rhode  Island,  where  he 
had  jurisdiction.  The  congregation  of  Narragansett 
had  attached  itself  to  the  Church  in  Massachusetts, 
and  the  clergy  of  that  Commonwealth  had  proposed 
to  the  Bishop  of  New  York  to  ordain  a  clergyman 


IN  CONNECTICUT.  437 

for  the  parish,  and  he  had  yielded  without  consulting 
the  authority  of  the  Bishop  of  Connecticut.  It  was 
a  needless  official  act;  and  when  Bishop  Provoost  was 
informed  of  the  complaint,  he  admitted  the  impro- 
priety of  individual  parishes  pursuing  such  a  course, 
and  favored  a  canon,  which  was  prepared  and  adopted 
at  that  very  session,  "to  prevent  a  congregation  in 
any  Diocese  or  State  from  uniting  with  a  church  in 
any  other  Diocese  or  State." 

This  was  entirely  satisfactory;  but  there  was  an- 
other matter  which  would  have  been  a  source  of  irritar 
tion  had  it  not  been  promptly  suppressed  by  the  action 
of  the  Convention.  A  jDamphlet,  lately  published,  en- 
titled "Strictures  on  the  Love  of  Power  in  the  Prel- 
acy. By  a  Member  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Asso- 
ciation in  South  Carolina,"  was  "a  libel  against  the 
House  of  Bishops,"  and  principally  levelled  at  the 
Bishop  of  Connecticut.  The  author  of  this  libellous 
pamphlet  was  present,  being  a  member  of  the  Conven- 
tion; and  steps  were  taken  to  expel  him,  which  would 
have  been  successful  had  he  not  fled  for  shelter  to  the 
House  of  Bishops.  Through  the  intervention  of  the 
President  of  that  body,  (White,)  he  made  an  ample 
apology  for  his  misconduct;  but  while  he  was  saved 
from  expulsion,  which  he  deserved,  he  "gave  subse- 
quent evidence  that  his  professed  penitence  was  in- 
sincere, although  it  had  been  accompanied  by  a  pro- 
fusion of  tears." 

The  clergy  of  Connecticut,  fifteen  in  number,  met 
in  Convocation  at  Bristol,  (East  Plymouth,)  on  the 
21st  of  October,  when  the  Bishop  consecrated  a  new 
church  by  the  name  of  St,  Matthew's,  and  admitted 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Griswold,  so  long  the  venerated  Bishop 


438  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

of  the  Eastern  Diocese,  to  the  Holy  Order  of  Priests. 
That  was  his  last  ordination;  but  the  next  day  the 
clergy  assembled,  pursuant  to  adjournment,  in  the 
adjoining  town  of  Harwinton,  where  he  consecrated 
another  new  church  by  the  name  of  St.  Mark's.  At 
the  recent  General  Convention  a  canon  had  been 
adopted  empowering  the  Bishop  in  each  Diocese  or 
District  to  set  forth  forms  of  Prayer  or  Thanksgiving 
for  extraordinary  occasions ;  and  Bishop  Seabury  was 
now  "requested  to  compose  two  Collects  for  the  use 
of  the  clergy  in  this  State,  —  one  to  be  used  at  the 
sitting  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  the  other  to  be 
used  at  the  Courts."  It  was  a  good  fashion  which 
called  in  those  days  for  such  a  provision.  The  Gen- 
eral Assembly  still  entertains  a  lingering  respect  for 
it,  and  invites  some  clergyman  to  officiate  at  the  open- 
ing of  its  daily  sessions,  but  the  Courts  in  Connecti- 
cut, judging  from  the  custom  of  the  present  day,  have 
ceased  to  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  prayers. 

This  was  the  last  gathering  of  the  clergy  under  the 
eye  of  their  beloved  prelate,  and  these  were  his  last 
official  acts  in  Connecticut  of  which  there  is  any  rec- 
ord. Late  in  the  month  of  February,  1796,  "Mr. 
Jarvis  of  Middletown  was  sitting  before  the  fire,"  so 
says  an  eye-witness,  "his  wife  near  him,  engaged  in 
some  domestic  employment,  and  his  little  son  playing 
about  the  room.  A  messenger  entered  with  a  letter 
sealed  with  black  wax,  and  handed  it  to  Mr.  Jarvis  in 
silence.  He  opened  it,  and  his  hand  shook  like  an 
aspen  leaf  His  wife,  in  great  alarm,  hastened  to  him, 
and  his  son  crept  between  his  knees  and  looked  up 
inquiringly  into  his  face.  He  could  not  speak  for 
some  minutes.  At  last  he  said,  slowly  and  convul- 
sively, 'Bishop  Seabury  is  dead!'" 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  439 

The  event  came  to  him  with  great  suddenness  on 
the  25th  of  February,  when  he  had  passed  three 
months  beyond  the  eleventh  year  of  his  consecration, 
and  nearly  as  many  months  be^^ond  his  sixty-sixth 
birthday.  Up  to  that  moment  of  time  he  had  been 
in  the  enjoyment  of  a  good  degree  of  health,  and  his 
robust  and  vigorous  constitution  indicated  no  symp- 
toms of  early  dissolution.  He  had  spent  the  after- 
noon of  the  day  of  his  death  m  visits  to  several  of 
his  parishioners,  and  just  as  he  was  leaving  the  tea- 
table  of  a  Warden  of  his  parish,  whose  daughter  his 
son  Charles  had  married,  he  was  seized  with  apo- 
plexy, and  being  laid  upon  a  bed,  soon  expired.  It 
was  a  departure  which  he  had  always  desired  rather 
than  deprecated ;  for  in  using  the  petition  in  the  Lit- 
any to  be  ''delivered  from  sudden  death,"  he  is  said 
to  have  excluded  all  reference  to  himself,  and  to  have 
thought  only  of  what  most  men  in  the  busy  scenes 
of  life  are  quite  unfitted  to  welcome. 

Though  he  had  lived  long  enough  to  leave  the  im- 
press of  his  noble  and  decisive  character  upon  the 
Church  in  Connecticut,  yet  here  and  in  Rhode  Island^ 
his  death  was  tenderly  mourned,  and  his  loss  was  a 
severe  affliction  to  his  infant  communion  in  America. 
He  was  a  man  for  the  times,  far-reaching  in  his  views, 
of  a  bold  and  resolute  spirit,  and  "better  acquainted 
than  any  of  his  coadjutors  with  those  guiding  principles 
which  were  then  especially  required."  If  he  had  not 
the  lenity  and  moderation  of  White,  he  had  the  mag- 
nanimity and  courtesy  of  a  Christitm  gentleman,  and 
knew  when  firmness  was  a  duty  and  concession  a  vir- 
tue.  If  he  had  not  the  classic  taste  and  elegant  scholar- 

1  Appendix  C. 


440  HISTORY  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

ship  of  Madison,  he  had  stores  of  sacred  learning,  and 
a  mind  to  use  them,  and  a  power  "in  the  performance 
of  his  official  functions  to  inspire  universal  reverence." 
On  the  great  festivals  of  the  Church,  and  on  all  high 
occasions,  he  wore  the  Mitre,  which  is  now  deposited 
in  the  Library  of  Trinity  College  at  Hartford.  He 
also  wore  at  times  the  hood,  the  badge  of  a  Doctor's 
degree.  Commanding  in  person,  graceful  in  manner, 
though  with  little  action,  and  perspicuous  and  com- 
pact in  his  style,  he  was  a  preacher  to  impress  truth 
upon  the  hearts  of  an  audience ;  and  his  published  dis- 
courses are  still  referred  to  and  commended  for  their 
doctrinal  soundness,  and  for  the  proofs  which  they 
supply  of  his  thorough  earnestness  in  the  work  not 
only  of  bringing  men  into  the  path  of  salvation,  but  of 
building  up  "the  body  of  Christ,  which  is  His  Church." 
A  successor^  in  the  Rectorship  of  the  parish  which  he 
served,  and  who  has  had  opportunities  of  gathering 
up  reminiscences  of  his  life,  characterizes  him  as  "unit- 
ing dignity  with  condescension,  and  ease  with  gravity. 
He  was  an  admirable  companion,  a  hearty  friend,  a 
generous  opponent.  The  poor,  and  men  of  low  estate 
among  his  parishioners,  loved  his  memory.  And  men 
of  all  creeds,  where  he  dwelt,  held  him  in  esteem  and 
reverence." 

The  unpretending  wooden  church  which  he  conse- 
crated, and  where  he  ministered  before  the  Lord,  has 
given  way  to  a  noble  structure  of  stone,  with  massive 
walls  and  towering  spire,  with  gorgeous  nave  and  rich 
adornments  of  chancel;  and  long  before  its  completion 
it  was  a  natural  feeling  of  the  churchmen  of  Connect- 
icut that  its  first  Bishop  should  have  his  resting-place 

1  Rev.  Robert  A.  Hallam,  D.  D. 


IN   CONNECTICUT.  441 

witliin  those  sacred  courts  which  must  hi  all  time  to 
come  be  associated  with  his  blessed  memory.  When, 
therefore,  he  had  lain  in  his  grave  for  more  than  half 
a  century,  his  remains  were  disinterred  in  the  autumn 
of  1849,  and  deposited  in  a  crypt  prepared  for  their 
reception  in  one  of  tlie  divisions  of  the  chancel  of  St. 
James's  Church;  and  a  monument,  erected  at  the  joint 
expense  of  his  Diocese  and  his  parish,  tells  the  hum- 
ble worshipper  in  that  sanctuary,  and  every  inquiring 
visitor,  that  there  finally  his  dust  reposes,  waiting  for 
"the  Resurrection  of  the  dead  and  the  life  of  the  world 
to  come." 

The  pious  apostrophe  which  fell  from  the  pen  of 
the  writer  who  recorded  the  death  of  Jewel,  Bishop 
of  Salisbury,  will  fit  his  case,  and  appropriately  con- 
clude this  chapter.  "Be  thou  thankful  to  God  for  giv- 
ing His  Church  so  worthy  an  instrument  to  His  glory, 
and  be  careful  to  follow  the  good  doctrine  which  he 
left  behind  him." 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX   A. 

Mr.  Cutler  acted  as  resident  Rector  for  several  months 
before  rcmovino;  his  family  to  New  Haven.  The  first  town- 
meeting  in  Stratford  to  consider  his  removal  was  helcl  July 
31,  1719,  and  tlie  people  were  again  convened  on  the  21st  of 
September  for  the  same  purpose.  His  letter  of  resignation, 
copied  from  the  town  records,  is  as  follows :  — 

"Stratford,  Sept.  14,  1719. 
"  Brethren  and  Friends,  — 

"  I  hope  I  have  with  seriousness  and  solemnity  cons^idered  tlie  in- 
vitation made  to  me  for  a  removal  from  you  to  the  collegiate  school 
at  New  Haven,  and  can  look  upon  it  as  nothing  less  than  a  call  of 
Providence,  which  I  am  obliged  to  obey. 

"  I  do,  therefore,  by  these  lines  give  you  this  signification,  giving 
you  my  hearty  thanks  for  all  that  respect  and  kindness  I  have  found 
with  you,  and  praying  God  abundantly  to  reward  you  for  it,  and 
discharging  yoi;  from  any  further  care  about  my  temporal  support 
from  the  date  of  this  letter  forever,  and  praying  you  to  apply  your- 
selves with  all  convenient  speed  to  the  settling  of  another  minister 
with  you.  I  intend,  if  it  be  not  unacceptable  to  you,  to  visit  you  and 
take  my  farewell  of  you  as  soon  as  I  can  conveniently  on  some  Lord's 
day  after  my  return  from  Boston,  where  I  am  now  going,  if  it  please 
God.  When  I  am  bodily  absent  from  you,  my  affHotinn  shall  per- 
severe towards  you,  and  my  hearty  desires  and  prayers  shall  be  to 
God  for  you,  that  he  would  preserve  you  in  His  favor,  and  in  peace 
among  yourselves  ;  direct  your  endeavors  for  the  settlement  of  an- 
other to  break  the  bread  of  life  with  you,  and  make  your  way  pros- 
perous, and  abundantly  make  up  my  removal  from  you  by  his  gifts 
and  his  painful  and  successful  endeavors  for  the  good  of  your  souls 
and  your  children  after  you. 

"  Thus  I  leave  you  to  the  care  of  the  great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep, 
always  remaining  an  earnest  well-wLsher  to  your  souls  and  all  your 
concerns.  Timothy  Cuti.kr." 


446  APPENDIX. 

Extracts  from  the  Records  of  Yale  College. 

"At  a  meeting  of  the  Trustees,  Sept.  9,  1719  :  — 

"  Ordered,  that  Mr.  Samuel  Andrew,  Mr.  Samuel  Russell,  and 
Mr.  Thomas  Ruggles  or  any  two  of  them  do  pray  the  next  General 
Assembly  to  grant  such  sums  of  money  to  the  Trustees  of  College  as 
may  enable  them  to  remove  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cutler  from  Stratford  to 
the  place  of  Rector  of  this  College  vv'hereunto  he  hath  been  chosen. 

"  Ordered,  that  Mr.  Joseph  Webb,  Mr.  Thomas  Ruggles,  and  Mr. 
Samuel  Russell  or  any  two  of  them  do  write  in  our  name  to  the 
town  of  Stratford,  signifying  our  acceptance  of  the  town  offer  con- 
cerning the  removal  of  Mr.  Cutler,  and  that  they  do  it  according  to 
their  own  viz.  said  Webb's,  Russell's,  and  Ruggles's  proposals  made 
s**  town  :  also  we  order  and  impower  the  above  persons  to  purchase 
of  Mr.  Cutler  his  house  and  home  lot  at  Stratford,  that  it  may  be 
returned  to  Stratford,  and  (if  Mr.  Cutler  seeth  it  needful)  they  are 
desired  to  be  helpful  to  him  in  laying  out  the  moneys  for  his  accom- 
modation in  New  Haven,  and  all  to  be  done  at  the  College  charge. 

"  Ordered,  that  Mr.  Cutler's  family  and  goods  be  removed  from 
Stratford  to  New  Haven  at  the  charge  of  the  College. 

"  Ordered,  that  Rev.  Mr.  Samuel  Andrew,  Samuel  Russell  and 
Thomas  Ruggles  do  adjust  the  account  which  is  due  to  Mr.  Johnson 
for  his  service  in  the  College,  and  order  him  what  shall  be  due  out 
of  the  Treasury,  with  our  particular  thanks  for  his  good  service,  and 
that  £3  be  ordered  him  for  his  extraordinary  service. 

"  April  20,  1720. 

"  We  agree  to  give  the  Rev.  Mr.  Timothy  Cutler  one  hundred 
and  ninety  pounds  current  money  of  this  Colony  or  Bills  of  credit 
passing  in  the  same  for  his  house  and  home  lot  in  Stratford." 


APPENDIX  B. 


The  following  letter,  copied  from  the  original  draught  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Johnson,  and  addressed  to  President  Clap,  con- 
tains very  important  statements.  It  has  not,  to  our  knowl- 
edge, before  appeared  in  print :  — 


APPENDIX.  447 

"  Stratford,  Feby  5,  1754. 
"Rev?  &  D?  s?,— 

"  Tho'  I  am  but  in  a  poor  condition  for  writing,  I  can't  forbear  a  few 
lines  in  answer  to  yours  of  Jan^  30th. 

"  I  thank  you  for  your  kind  congratulation  on  my  being  chosen 
President  of  their  intended  College  at  New  York,  and  I  shall  desire 
by  all  means,  if  I  undertake  it,  to  hold  a  good  correspondence  not 
only  as  Colleges  but  as  Christians,  supposing  you  and  the  Fellows  of 
your  College  act  on  the  same  equitable,  catholic,  and  Christian  prin- 
ciples as  we  unanimously  propose  to  act  upon,  i.  e.,  to  admit  that  the 
children  of  the  Church  may  go  to  church  whenever  they  have  oppor- 
tunity, as  we  think  of  nothing  but  to  admit  that  the  children  of  Dis- 
senting parents  have  leave  to  go  to  their  meetings ;  nor  can  I  see 
anything  like  an  argument  in  all  you  have  said  to  justify  the  for- 
bidding it.  And  I  am  prodigiously  mistaken  if  you  did  not  tell  me 
it  was  an  allowed  and  settled  rule  with  you  heretofore. 

"The  only  point  in  question,  as  I  humbly  conceive,  is,  whether 
there  ought  of  right  to  be  any  such  Imv  in  your  College  as,  either  in 
words  or  by  necessary  consequence,  forbids  the  liberty  we  contend  for  ! 
"What  we  must  beg  leave  to  insist  on  is.  That  there  ought  not ;  and 
that  it  is  highly  injurious  to  forbid  it ;  unless  you  can  make  it  ap- 
pear That  you  ever  had  a  rigid  to  exclude  the  people  of  the  Church 
belonging  to  this  Colony,  from  having  the  benefit  of  Public  education 
in  your  College,  without  their  submitting  to  the  hard  condition  of  not 
being  alloived  to  do  what  they  believe  in  their  conscience,  it  is  their 
indispensable  duty  to  do,  i.  e.,  to  require  their  children  to  go  to  church 
whenever  they  have  opportunity,  and  at  the  same  time  a  right  to  accept 
and  hold  such  vast  benefactions  from  gentlemen  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, wherewith  to  support  you  in  maintaining  such  a  law  in  exclu- 
sion of  such  a  liberty.  Can  you  think  those  gentlemen  would  ever 
have  given  such  benefactions  to  such  a  purpose  !  And  ought  it  not 
to  be  considered  at  the  same  time  that  the  parents  of  these  children 
contribute  also  their  proportion  every  year  to  the  support  of  the 
College? 

"  Your  argument  in  a  former  letter  was,  That  it  is  inconsistent 
with  the  original  design  of  the  founders,  which  was  only  to  provide 
ministers  for  your  churches.  But  pray,  Sir,  why  may  not  our  Church 
also  be  provided  for  with  ministers  from  our  common  College  as  well 
as  your  churches  ?  And  ought  not  the  catholic  design  of  the  principal 
benefactors  also  in  strict  justice  to  be  regarded,  who,  in  the  sense  of 


448  APPENDIX. 

the  English  Law,  are  to  be  reckoned  among  the  founders?  See 
Viner,  on  the  title  Founders.  What  Mr.  TaWs  views  were,  I 
had  not  opportunity  of  knowing,  though,  doubtless,  they  were  the 
same  that  we  suppose.  But  I  was  knowing  to  Bp.  Berkeley's,  which 
were,  that  his  great  Donation  should  be  equally  for  a  common  ben- 
efit, without  respect  to  parties.  For  I  was  myself  the  principal,  I 
may  say  in  effect  the  only  person,  in  procuring  that  Donation,  and 
with  those  generous,  catholic,  and  charitable  views ;  though  you,  (not 
willing,  it  seems,  that  Posterity  should  ever  know  this,)  did  not  think 
fit  to  do  me  tlie  justice  in  your  History  of  the  College,  (ihough  hum- 
bly suggested,)  as  to  give  me  the  credit  of  any,  the  least  influence 
on  him  in  that  nffair ;  when  the  truth  is,  had  it  not  been  for  my  in- 
fluence it  would  never  have  been  done,  to  which  I  was  prompted  by 
the  sincere  desire  that  it  should  be  for  a  common  benefit,  when  I 
could  have  easily  procured  it  appropriated  to  the  Church.  But  at 
that  time  3Ir.  Williams  also  pretended  a  mighty  catholic  charitable 
conviction  that  there  never  was  any  meaning  in  it:  it  being  at  the 
very  same  juncture,  that  he  with  the  Hampshire  ministers,  his  father 
at  the  head  of  them,  were,  in  their  great  charity,  contriving  a  letter  to 
the  Bishop  of  London  by  means  of  which  they  hoped  to  deprive  all 
the  church  people  in  these  parts  of  their  ministers,  and  them  of  their 
support ;  the  same  charitable  aim  that  Mr.  Hohart  and  his  friends 
are  pui-suing  at  this  day !  And  now  you.  Gentlemen,  are  so  severe 
as  to  establish  a  law  to  deprive  us  of  the  benefit  of  a  public  education 
for  our  children,  too,  unless  we  will  let  them,  nay  require  them  to 
go  out  of  our  own  houses,  to  meeting,  when  there  is  a  church  at  our 
doors. 

"  Indeed,  Sir,  I  must  say,  this  appeais  to  me  so  very  injurious,  that 
I  must  think  it  my  duty,  in  obedience  to  a  rule  of  the  Society,  to 
join  with  my  Brethren  in  complaining  of  it  to  our  superiors  at  home, 
if  it  be  insisted  upon  ;  which  is  Avhat  I  abhor  and  dread  to  be  brought 
to ;  and,  therefore,  by  the  love  of  our  dear  country,  (in  which  we 
desire  to  live,  only  upon  a  par  with  you,  in  all  Christian  charity,) 
I  do  beseech  you.  Gentlemen,  not  to  insist  upon  it.  Tell  it  not  in 
Gath !  much  less  in  the  ears  of  our  dear  mother-country,  that  any 
of  her  daughters  should  deny  any  of  her  children  leave  to  attend  on 
her  worship  whenever  they  have  opportunity  for  it.  Surely  you  can- 
not pretend  that  you  are  conscience  bound  to  make  such  a  law,  or 
that  it  would  be  an  infraction  of  liberty  of  conscience  for  it  to  be  re- 
pealed from  home,  as  you  intimate.     This  would  be  carrying  matters 


APPENDIX.  449 

far  indeed.  But  for  God's  sake,  do  not  be  so  severe  to  think  in  this 
manner,  or  to  carry  things  to  this  pass  !  If  so,  let  Dissenters  never 
more  complain  of  their  heretofore  persecutions  or  hardships  in  Eng- 
land, unless  they  have  us  tempted  to  think  it  their  principle,  that 
they  only  ought  to  be  tolerated,  in  order  at  length  to  be  established, 
that  they  may  have  the  sole  privilege  of  persecuting  otliers.  But  I 
beg  pardon  and  forbear ;  only  I  desire  it  may  be  considered,  how  ill 
such  a  principle  would  sound  at  this  time  of  day,  when  the  universal 
Church  of  England  as  much  abhors  the  persecution  of  Dissenters  as 
they  can  themselves.  It  may  also  deserve  to  be  considered  that  the 
Government  at  home  would  probably  be  so  far  from  going  into  the 
formality  of  repealing  tliis  law,  that  they  would  declare  it  a  nullity 
in  itself;  and  not  only  so,  but  even  the  corporation  that  hath  en- 
acted it ;  inasmuch  as  it  seems  a  principle  in  law  that  a  corporation 
cannot  make  a  corporation,  nor  can  one  be  made  without  his  majes- 
ty's act.     See  Viner,  under  the  titles  Corporation  and  By-Laws. 

"  You  mistake  me,  Sir.  I  did  not  say  that  Professors  of  Divinity  do 
not  preacli.  I  knew  they  and  the  Heads,  &c.,  do  preach  in  their 
turns  at  the  common  church,  to  which  all  resort  to  sermon.  But 
what  I  say  is,  that  they  do  not  preach  as  Professors,  nor  do  they  ever 
preach  in  private  Colleges,  there  being  no  such  thing  as  preaching 
in  the  College  Chapels,  but  only  at  St.  Mary's  and  Christ  Chvrch, 
which  are  in  effect  Cathedrals,  where  the  scholars  resort,  but  not 
exclusive  of  the  town's  people,  tho'  they  generally  go  to  their  parish 
churches. 

"  I  wonder  how  you  came  to  apprehend  I  had  any  scruples  about 
the  divinity  of  Christ.  I  am  with  you,  glad  we  agree  so  far;  and  I 
would  desire  you  to  understand,  that  my  zeal  for  that  sacred  Deposi- 
tum,  the  Christian  faith,  founded  on  those  principles,  a  coessential, 
coeternal  Trinity,  and  the  Divinity,  incarnation,  and  satisfaction  of 
Christ,  is  the  very  and  sole  reason  of  my  zeal  for  the  Church  of  En"-- 
land,  and  that  she  may  be  promoted,  supported,  and  well  treated  in 
these  countries  ;  as  1  have  been  long  persuaded  that  she  is,  and  will 
eventually  be  found,  the  only  stable  bulwark  against  all  heresy  and 
infidelity  which  are  coming  in  like  a  flood  upon  us,  and  this,  as  I 
apprehend,  by  reason  of  the  rigid  Calvinism,  Antinoraianism,  enthu- 
siasm, divisions,  and  separations,  which,  through  the  weakness  and 
great  imperfection  of  your  constitution,  (if  it  may  so  be  called,)  are 
so  rite  and  rampant  among  us.  ]\Iy  apprehension  of  this  was  tho 
first  occasion  of  my  conforming  to  the  Cliurch,  (which  has  been  to  my 
29 


450  APPENDIX. 

great  comfort  and  satisfaction,)  and  hath  been  more  and  more  con- 
firmed by  what  has  occurred  ever  since.  And  I  am  still  apt  to  think 
that  no  well-meaning  Dove  that  has  proper  means  and  opportunity 
of  exact  consideration,  will  ever  find  rest  to  the  sole  of  his  foot  amid 
such  a  deluge,  till  he  comes  into  the  Church  as  the  alone  ark  of 
safety,  —  all,  whose  Articles,  Liturgy  and  Homilies  taken  together  and 
explained  by  one  another,  and  by  the  writings  of  our  first  Reformers, 
according  to  their  original  sense,  shall  ever  be  sacred  with  me ;  which 
sense,  as  I  apprehend  it,  is  neither  Calvinistical  nor  Arminian,  but 
the  golden  mean,  and,  according  to  the  genuine  meaning  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  in  the  original,  critically  considered  and  understood.  I 
beg  pardon  for  this  length,  which  I  did  not  design  at  first,  and  desire 
you  will  also  excuse  my  haste,  inaccuracy,  and  this  writing  currente 
calamo,  and  conclude  with  earnestly  begging  that  neither  your  in- 
sisting on  this  law  nor  anything  else,  may  occur  to  destroy  or  inter- 
rupt our  harmony  and  friendship,  with  which,  on  my  part  I  desire 
ever  to  remain, 

"  D--  S' 

"  y.  real  /riend 

"  and  humble  servant, 

"  S.  Johnson. 
"  P.  S.  —  I  wish  you  to  communicate  it  to  the  Fellows." 


APPENDIX    C. 

Correspondence  between  the  Standing  Committees  of  Rhode 
Island  and  Connecticut. 

"Newport,  March  29th,  1796. 
"  To  THE  Standing  Committee 

of  the  Prot.  Episc   Church  in  the  State  of  Connecticut. 

"  Gentlemen,  — 

"  Duly  impressed  with  a  grateful  sense  of  the  blessings  enjoyed  by 

the  Prot.   Episc.  Church,  in  the  State  of  Ehode  Island,  in  common 

with  those  in  the  State  of  Connecticut,  during  the  Episcopal  Regency 

of  our   departed  Rt.  Rev**.  Diocesan,  we   conceive    it  our  duty  at 

this  time  to  join  with  you  in  paying  our  tribute  of  Regard  to  the 

memory  of  our  worthy  Bishop,  and  to  call  upon  you  for  a  continu- 


APPENDIX.  451 

ance  of  our  common  ecclesiastical  interest  and  Dioce>enal  unity. 
And,  as  it  hath  pleased  the  adorable  Head  of  the  Church  to  call 
hence  our  visible  centre  of  vmity,  we  have  to  request  you,  to  use 
your  best  endeavors  and  influence  with  the  churches  which  you  rep- 
resent, that  they  lose  no  time  in  making  choice  of  a  suitable  person 
to  watch  over  the  Doctrines,  Discipline  and  Institutions  of  our  faith 
and  common  salvation. 

"  From  the  paucity  of  our  congregations,  we  pretend  not  to  any 
share  in  your  election ;  only  to  be  admitted,  so  far  do  we  request, 
as  to  homologate  your  choice,  and  to  give  our  adjunct  suffrage  and 
recommendation  in  favor  of  the  elect,  whom  ye,  under  the  direction 
of  Almighty  God,  may  judge  worthy  of  filling  the  P>piscopal  chair. 

"  And  may  God  of  His  infinite  goodness  and  love  for  His  Church, 
direct  us  in  all  things  for  the  good  of  the  same ;  that  His  Name  may 
be  glorified,  and  the  number  of  the  faithful  daily  increased  and  re- 
joice in  the  salvation  of  Jesus. 

"  We  are.  Gentlemen,  with  every  sentiment  of  respect  and  esteem, 
and  with  prayers  for  your  temporal  and  eternal  happiness,  your  most 
affectionate  and  very  humble  servants,  the  Standing  Committee  of 
the  Prot.  Episc.  Church  in  the  State  of  Rhode  Island. 
"  WiLLiAJi  Smith,  RecL  Tr.  G.  N.  Port. 

"  ROB^  N.  AUCHMUTY. 

"  Abra".  L.  Clarke,  RecC.  St.  Johns  Ch'h  Providence. 
"John  J.  Clarke." 

To  the  above  letter,  copied  from  the  original  in  the  hand- 
writing of  Dr.  Smith,  the  first  signer,  whose  peculiar  marks 
of  authorship  it  bears,  the  following  answer  was  returned,  in 
the  autumn,  by  the  Standing  Committee  of  Connecticut. 

"  To  the  Protestant  E.  Church  in  the  State  of  Rhode  Island. 
"  Gentlemen,  — 

"Your  polite  and  friendly  Letter  of  the  29th  of  March  last  was 
received  by  us  in  due  time.  The  occasion  of  your  address  was  truly 
a  melancholy  one.  The  sudden  departure  of  our  late  worthy  Dio- 
cesan cast  a  gloom  upon  the  minds  of  his  numerous  acquaintances, 
and  especially  upon  the  members  of  his  cure.  We  were  happy  in  being 
favored  with  so  good  a  man  to  fill  the  Episcopal  chair ;  and  we  sin- 
cerely lament  the  great  lo>s  we  have  sustained. 

"The  delay  in  answering  your  Letter  until  this  time  did  not  arise 


452  APrENDix. 

from  any  inattention  to  the  subject.  But  we  concluded  that  we 
should  be  better  able  to  comply  with  your  request  after  the  meeting 
of  our  Convention  than  before.  At  that  meeting  your  Letter  was 
read,  the  members  unanimously  expressed  their  wishes  that  the 
union  between  the  Church  of  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut  which 
had  taken  place  under  the  regency  of  our  late  Rt.  Rev^  Diocesan 
might  still  be  continued.  The  event  of  our  meeting  must,  ere  this, 
have  been  made  known  to  you  by  the  Rev**.  Mr.  Smith.  We  trust 
that  our  unanimous  choice  of  the  Rev*^.  Mr.  Bowden  will  meet 
the  approbation  of  our  sister  Church  of  Rhode  Island.  Mr.  Bow- 
den's  well  known  abilities  and  integrity,  if  he  accepts  the  appointment, 
will,  we  trust  in  some  measure,  repair  the  loss  we  have  sustained, 
and  be  a  means  of  continuing  and  firmly  establishing  that  Diocesenal 
unity  which  has  been  so  happily  begun  between  us.  That  God 
would  preserve,  bless,  and  direct  His  Church  in  all  things,  and  finally 
receive  us  into  everlasting  glory,  is  the  earnest  prayer,  of.  Gentlemen, 

"Your  most  affectionate  and  very  humble 

"  Servants." 


LIST 

OF  SOME  OF  THE  AUTHORS  AND  SOURCES  OF  INFOR- 
MATION CONSULTED  OR  REFERRED  TO  IN  THE  PREP- 
ARATION  OF  THE  FOREGOING  WORK. 


Abstracts  from  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation 

of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts. 
Anderson's  History  of  tlie  Colonial  Church.    3  vols.    London,  1856. 
Bacon's  Historical  Discourses.     New  Haven,  1839. 
Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States.     8  vols.     Boston,  1839-60. 
Berrian's  Ilislory  of  Trinity  Church.     New  York,  1847. 
Bolton's  History  of  the  Church  in  Westchester  County.     New  York, 

1855. 
Botta's  History  of  the  American  War.     2  vols.     New  Haven,  1842. 
Boucher's  Discourses  on  the  Causes  and  Consequences  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution.     London,  1797. 
Bronson's  History  of  Waterbury.     Waterbury,  1858. 
Burnet's  History  of  His  Own  Times. 
Carwithen's  History  of  the  Church  of  England.     2  vols.     Oxford, 

1849. 
Caulkins's  History  of  New  London.     New  London,  1852. 
Chandler's  Life  of  Johnson.     New  York,  1805. 

"  Appeal  to  the  Public,  etc.     1767-1771. 

And  Dr.  Chauncey's  replies. 
Chauncey's  State  of  Religion  in  New  England.     Boston,  1743. 
Church  Documents,  Connecticut.     2  vols.     New  York,  1863. 
Churchman's  Magazine,  from  1804  to  1827. 
Clap's  Annals  of  Yale  College.     New  Haven,  1776. 
Collections  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Historical  Society.     2  vols. 

New  York,  1851-52. 
Colonial  History  of  New  York.     10  vols.     Albany,  1856. 
Contributions   to  the  Ecclesiastical    History  of  Connecticut.     New 

Haven,  1861. 


454  LIST  OF  AUTHORS 

Controversial  pamphlets  in  reference  to  the  Church,  from  1734  to 

the  American  Revolution. 
Dr.  Trumbull's  History  of  Connecticut.     2  vols.     New  Haven,  1813. 
Documents  and  Memorials  in  the  State  Libi-ary  at  Hartford. 
Hallam's  Constitutional  History  of  England.    3  vols.     Boston,  1861. 
Hawkins's  Missions  of  the  Church  of  England.     London,  1845. 
Hawks's  Ecclesiastical  Contributions.     Virginia,  183G. 

«  "  "  Maryland,  1839. 

Hildreth's   History  of  the  United   States.     3   vols.      First    Series. 

New  York,  1854. 
Hopkins's  Puritans  and  Queen  Elizabeth.     3  vols.     Boston,  1859. 
Humphrey's  History  of  the  Propagation  Society.     London,  1730. 
Johnson  MSS. 

Journals  of  General  Convention,  from  1785. 
Journals  of  Convention  of  Diocese  of  Connecticut,  from  1792. 
Judge  Church's  Address  at  the  Centennial  Celebration  in  Litchfield, 

1851. 
Kingsley's  Historical  Discourse.     New  Haven,  1838. 
Lathbury's  History  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.     London,  1859. 
Macaulay's  History  of  England.     New  York,  1849. 
Manuscript  Records  of  Convocation. 
Massachusetts  Historical  Collections.     Different  series. 
Mather's  Magnalia,     2  vols.     Hartford,  1855. 
Minutes  of  the  Convention  of  Delegates  fiora  the  Synod  of  New 

York  and  Philadelphia,  and  the  Associations  of  Connecticut,  from 

1766  to  1775.     Hartford,  1843. 
Neal's  History  of  New  England.     2  vols.     London,  1748. 

"      History  of  the  Puritans.     2  vols.     New  York,  1843. 
New  Haven  Colonial  Records.     2  vols.     Hartford,  1857. 
Oliver's  Puritan  Commonwealth.     Boston,  1856. 
Palfrey's  History  of  New  England.     3  vols.     Boston,  1858. 
Poor's  English  Civilization  in  America.     New  York,  1 862. 
Quincy's  History  of  Harvard  University.     2  vols.     Boston,  1860. 
Sabine's  Loyalists  of  the  American   Revolution.     2  vols.     Boston, 

1864. 
Stinner's  Annals  of  Scottish  Episcopacy.     Edinburgh,  1818. 
Sparks's  Life  of  Washington.     12  vols.      Boston. 
"        Life  of  Franklin.     1  vol.     Boston,  1844. 
Stephen's  History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland.     4  vols.     London, 

1843. 


REFERRED   TO   IN   TinS  WORK.  455 

Stiles's  Literary  Diary  and  Itinerary.     MS.     Yale  College. 
Stone's  Life  and  Times  of  Sir  William  Johnson.     2  vols.     Albany, 

1865. 
Updike's  History  of  the  Narragansett  Church.     New  York,  1847. 
Vaughan's  History  of  England  under  the  House  of  Stuart.     2  vols. 

London,  1840. 
Wilberforce's  History  of  the  American  Church.     New  York,  1849. 
WLnthrop's  History  of  New  England.     2  vols.     Boston,  1853. 
Woolsey's  Historical  Discourse,  Yale  College.     New  Haven,  1850. 


INDEX. 


Abbot,  Archbishop,  5. 

Aberdeen,  361,  363,  365,  368. 

Act  of  Assembly,  N.  Y.,  178. 

Act  of  Toleration,  16. 

Adams,  John,  291,  334,  341,  396. 

Address  to  Bishop  Seabury,  368. 

Africans,  186. 

"  Age  of  Reason,"  432. 

Albany,  156,  272. 

Allen,  149. 

Ailing,  Enos,  171,  172,  224,  227,  228. 

Aliington,  271. 

Amboy,  205. 

America,  1,  8,  14,  18,  27,  45,  47,  76, 
82,  102,  120-122,  134,  1.59,  184,  229, 
232,  243,  245,  252-254,  261,  263,  290, 
299,  302,  304,  341,  350,  400. 

"  America  Dissected,"  85. 

American  army,  or  forces,  305,  309, 
328,  342. 

American  Bills,  299. 

American  Church,  79,  381,  412,  429. 

American  Clerg3',  317. 

American  Colonies,  or  provinces,  76, 
144,  247,  252,  264,  265,  340,  342. 

American  Episcopate,  101,  159,  184, 
196,  199,  239,  243,  253,  257-259, 
261-266,  282-284,  289,  290,  301,  346, 
348-350,  357-365,  370,  381,  390,  398. 

American  Independence,  171, 291, 331, 
353,  362. 

American  Indians,  186,  261. 

American  Loyalists,  313,  351-353. 

American  people,  or  public,  299,  315, 
335,  343. 

American  Prelates,  428. 

American  Revolution,  361. 

"  American  Whig,"  259. 

Anderson,  77,267,  339. 

Andrew,  Rev.  Mr.,  38. 

Andrews,  Rev.  Samuel,  goes  to  Eng- 
land for  Orders,  204  ;  sent  to  Wal- 
lingford,  206, 236 ;  visits  New  Hamp- 
shire, 271;  mention  of,  292,  346; 
placed  under  bonds,  317 ;  removes 
to  New  Brunswick,  354,  355. 


Anne,  Queen,  26,  76. 

Annual   Convention  in   Connecticut, 

420,  435. 
Annual  Report,  First,  of  Propagation 

Society,  230. 
Antinoniianism,  239. 
Aplin,  John,  273. 
Apostles'  Creed,  394,  395,  415. 
"  Appeal  to  the  Public,"  2-56. 
Apthorp,  Rev.  East,  228,  230,  234. 
Archbishop  of  Canterbur}',  121,  144, 

198,  210,  216,  254,  358,  396,  428. 
Archbishop  of  York,  348-350, 358, 389. 
Arian  or  Socinian  errors,  193. 
Aristocles  to  Anthades,  137. 
Arniinian  corruptions,  42,  195. 
Arminians,  140. 
Arnold,  Benedict,  337,  383. 
Arnold,  Rev.  Jonathan,  110 ;  goes  to 

England  for  Orders,  111 ;  attempts 

to  get  the  Gregson  land,  113-115; 

removes  to  Staten  Island,  116,  117; 

occasional  notices  of,  130,  168-171, 

227. 
Articles  of  the  Church,  3,  194,  434 
Astry,  Dr.,  114,  137. 
Athanasian  Creed,  381,  395. 
Atlantic,  51,  228,  269,  361,  400. 
Auchmuty,  Rev.  Dr.,  250. 
Auchmuty,  Robert  N.,  451. 
Autobiography  of  Rev.  Dr.  Johnson, 

179,  296. 


B. 


Babylon,  120. 

Baldwin,  Rev.  Ashbel,  ordained,  370; 

sent  to  Litchfield,  383;  Rector  at 

Stratford,  425. 
Bangorian  controversy,  80. 
Baptism,  cross  in,  4. 
Baptists,  14,  71. 
Bass,  Rev.  Edw.ard,  393,  403 ;  Bishop 

Elect  of   Massachusetts  and   New 

Hampshire,  405 ;  doctorated,  410. 
Bast  wick,  6. 
Beach,  Rev.  Abraham,  270. 


458 


INDEX. 


Beach,  Rev.  John,  Independent  Min- 
ister at  Newtown,  58;  declares  for 
Episcopacy,  89 ;  goes  to  England 
for  Orders,  90;  Missionary  in  New- 
town and  Redding,  90 ;  mentions  of, 
92,  95.  9G,  110,  110,  130,  141,  158, 
188,  189,  211,  239,  346 ;  engaged  in 
controversy,  97,  98,  173-175,  193, 
194,  228;  reports  to  Society,  192, 
202,  241,  248,  250,  298  ;  opinion  of 
Chandler's  Life  of  Johnson,  296  ; 
intellectual  strength,  297  ;  under 
bonds,  309;  spirit  and  firmness, 
319  ;  last  letter  to  Society,  329,  330 ; 
death,  331. 

Beach,  William,  95,  158,  216. 

Bearcroft,  Dr.,  Ill,  116, 133,  185, 188. 

Beardsley,  John,  Jr.,  56. 

Beardsley,  Rev,  John,  204,  206,  235, 
270. 

Bedford,  142,  153. 

Belden,  Rev.  David,  386. 

Berkeley,  Dean,  arrival  at  Newport, 
76;  charter  for  college  at  Bermuda, 
77;  composes  "Minute  Philoso- 
pher," 78;  faithlessness  of  Wal- 
pole,  78 ;  return  to  Great  Britain, 
79;  made  Bishop  of  Cloyne,  80; 
Anniversary  Sermon,  80,  81 ;  dona- 
tions to  Yale  College,  82,  84,  448 ; 
letters  to,  110,  115,  130,  178;  letter 
from,  182. 

Berkeley,  Rev.  Dr.,  his  son,  290,  299, 
361. 

Bermuda,  76,  78-80. 

Bethany,  324. 

Bishop  of  Bangor,  189. 

Bishop  of  Connecticut,  302,  399,  422, 
428,  437. 

Bishop  of  Gloucester,  101,  121,  122. 

Bishop  of  LandafT,  114,  256-2-58,  261. 

Bishop  of  London,  19,  45,  47,  49,  57, 
69,  78,  134,  136,  160;  letters  from, 
164 ;  addresses  to,  250,  282. 

Bishops,  Diocesan,  283. 

Bishops  in  America,  76,  229,  267,  350. 

Bishops  in  London,  meeting  of,  393. 

Blakeslees,  430. 

Bliss,  Kev.  John,  100. 

Bonticou,  Timothy,  224,  227. 

Book  of  Common  Prayer,  13,  16,  31, 
64,  96,  132,  167,  373,"  380,  381,  390, 
409,  411,  413,415. 

Boston  Colony,  19. 

Boston,  1,  9, 13, 18,  41,  46,  51,  95, 123, 
141,  188,  219,  307,  373. 

Bostwick,  Rev.  Gideon,  272,  293,  306, 
346. 

Bowden,  Rev.  John,  one  of  a  Com- 


mittee to  revise  the  Prayer  Book, 
373  ;  Rector  at  Norwalk,  385,  409  ; 
Address  to  the  Parish  at  Stratford, 
423-425;  one  of  a  Committee  to 
revise  the  Articles,  434  ;  Principal 
of  the  Episcopal  Academy,  436 ; 
Bishop  Elect  of  Connecticut,  452. 

Braintree,  145,  219. 

Branford,  158,  161,  167,  170,  172,  198, 
223,  237,  385. 

Bridgeport,  154,  173. 

Bridges,  Rev.  Christopher,  24. 

Bristol,  Ct.,  293,  397,  437. 

Bristol,  R.  L,  47. 

Britain,  4. 

British  army,  or  forces,  in  America, 
227,  305,  311,  324,  341. 

British  Colonies,  or  provinces,  17,  353, 
356,  367. 

British  Crown,  76,  229,  351,  355,  410. 

British  Government,  304,  310,  341, 
352,  363. 

British  Ministry,  302,  336. 

British  officers,  324. 

British  Parliament,  244,  247. 

Bronson,  Rev.  Tillotson,  386. 

Brook  Haven,  60. 

Brooklyn,  273,  281. 

Brown,  Rev.  Arthur,  272. 

Brown,  Rev.  Daniel,  28,  30 ;  appointed 
tutor  in  Yale  College,  33 ;  declares 
for  Episcopacy,  38  ;  resigns  his  tu- 
torship, 42 ;  embarks  for  England, 
43  ;  ordained  by  the  Bishop  of  Nor- 
wich, 47  ;  death,  48 ;  occasional  no- 
tices of,  49,  51,  54,  64. 

Brown,  Rev.  Isaac,  87. 

Brownell,  Bishop,  423. 

Buckingham,  Stephen,  40. 

Bulkley,  Mr.,  39. 

Bunker  Hill,  313. 

Burhans,  Rev.  Daniel,  430. 

Burke,  352. 

Burlington,  N.  J.,  252. 

Burnet,  Bishop,  7,  35. 

Burr,  John,  154. 

Burton,  6. 

Burton,  Rev.  Daniel,  253. 

Butler,  Bishop.  Sermon  of,  356,  357. 

Butler,  Rev.  David,  430,  435. 

Byram  River,  73. 


Cabinet,  British,  341,  365. 
Calvinism,  126,  205,  449. 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  22,  123,  230. 
Camp,  Rev.  Ichabod,   159,   161,  164, 
173,  190,  197. 


INDEX. 


459 


Canada,  250. 

Caner,  Elizabeth,  65. 

Caner,  Henry,  64. 

Caner,  Kev.  Henry,  60,  64 ;  embarks 
for  Entrlancl,G6,  69;  extent  of  labors, 
73  ;  visits  England  for  his  healtli, 
101-103  ;  mentions  of,  104,  110,  120, 
130,  153,  154, 169;  removal  to  Bos- 
ton, 143. 

Caner,  Rev.  Richard,  lay  reader,  130  ; 
Missionary  at  Norwalk,  138  ;  re- 
moval to  Staten  Island,  and  death, 
139. 

Canons,  402,  419,  429. 

Canterburv,  Arclibishop  of,  121,  358, 
389,  396",  398,  428. 

Canterbury,  Ct.,274. 

Canterbury,  Enjj.,  44,  45,  184,  299; 
See  of,  348  ;    Dean  of,  364. 

Carlcton,  Sir  Guy,  227,  341,  351,  356. 

Caroline,  Queen,  79. 

Cathedral  at  Canterbury,  44. 

Chandler,  Rev.  T.  B.,  goes  to  Eng- 
land for  Orders,  159;  mention  of, 
163,  196  ;  letter  to  Society,  243  ;  to 
Johnson,  252,  253  ;  "  Appeal  to  the 
Public,"  and  defence  of,  256-261, 
264  ;  life  of  Johnson,  296  ;  flight  to 
England,  302;  named  for  Bishop, 
356  ;  return  to  America,  377. 

Charles  I.,  4,  5,  13. 

Charles  II.,  10,  13,  16. 

Charleston,  121,  122.  124. 

Charlestown,  R.  I.,  167. 

Chatham,  280,  397. 

Chauncey,  Dr.  Charles,  231,  256-261. 

Chauncey,  Rev.  Mr.  Israel,  40. 

Cheshire,  129,  164,  197,  206,  236,  270, 
273,  397  ;  academy  at,  427,  435. 

Chestnut  Ridge,  55,  68. 

Church  in  Connecticut,  23,  60,  74,  90, 
92,  94,  235.  247,  296,  310,  345,  356, 
376,  383,  401,  410,  439  ;  progress  of, 
396,  416,  422,  423  ;  canons  or  con- 
stitution of,  419,  426 ;  influence  of, 
433. 

Church  of  England,  3,  7,  10,  12,  15 ; 
members  or  professors  of,  17,  19, 
33,  53,  68,  74,  87,  90,  99,  103,  107, 
118,  129,  153,  163,  165,  168,  173, 
175,  202,  240,  242,  271,  320,  354, 
427;  Liturgy  of,  21,  55;  tribute 
to,  31 ;  missionaries  of,  32,  293,  325, 
347 ;  prayers  of,  34 ;  conversions 
to,  39,  89,  111,  132;  mentions  of, 
25,  41-44,  49,  52.  59,  62,  65,  73,  84, 
95,  120,  126,  148,  179-181,  224,  249, 
251,  265,  449;  bishops  and  clergy 
of,  46,   125,   137,  253;  bishops  of. 


381;  clergy  of,  72,  92,  107,  182, 
801  ;  opposition  to,  67,  127,  176 ; 
parishes  of,  permitted,  70 ;  defence 
of,  96-98,  173,  230-233  ;  families  of, 
103,  161,  272;  doctrines  or  worship 
of,  108,  112,  273,  390;  progress  of, 
141,  192,  275,  298;  laity  of,  266; 
friends  of,  283. 

Church  Hierarchy,  260,  291. 

Church  in  Rhode  Island,  450-452. 

Church,  Samuel,  Chief  Justice  of 
Connecticut,  432. 

Church  and  State,  4,  11,  13,  242. 

Church  of  Rome,  29. 

Churchmen,  14. 

Claggett,  Rev.  Thos.  J.,  D.D.,  conse- 
crated Bishop,  429. 

Clap,  President,  82,  83,  130,  147,  182, 
195,  446. 

Claremont,  272. 

Clarke,  80. 

Clarke,  Rev.  Abraham  L.,  451. 

Clarke,  John  J.,  451. 

Clarke,  Rev.  Richard  S.,  270,  346,  354. 

Clergy  of  Connecticut,  101,  111,  115, 
134,  151,  154, 156, 159, 169,  197,  204, 
208,  243,  272,  276,  306-308,  312,  336, 
339,  345 ;  choose  a  Bishop,  and  send 
him  for  consecration,  347-351,  360- 
363,  374 ;  convention  of,  250,  277, 
282,  318,  323,  346,  359,  368,  409, 
421,  434,  435. 

Clergy  of  New  Jersey,  257. 

Clergy  of  New  York,  257, 

Cleveland,  Rev.  Mr.,  186. 

Clinton,  Sir  Henry,  337,  341. 

Colchester,  39,  280. 

Cole,  Samuel,  273. 

Collier,  Sir  George,  824. 

Colman,  Benjamin,  41.  84,  123. 

Colonial  Church,  45,  50,  294  ;  history 
of,  77. 

Colonial  Government,  70. 

Colton,  Rev.  Jonathan,  163,  164. 

Columbia  College,  N.Y.,  178,  410,423. 

Columbus,  Christoplier,  1. 

Commencement  at  Yale  College,  32, 
65,  167,  255,  368. 

Commission  Court  and  Star-Cham- 
ber,  5. 

Commissioners  of  Charles  II.,  16. 

Committee  of  Inspection,  309  ;  of  Vig- 
ilance, 316. 

Commons,  House  of,  77. 

Communion  Office,  388,  413. 

Concordate,  368,  388. 

Confirmation,  rite  of,  252,  430,  431. 

Congregational  associations,  147,  255, 
261,  283,  286,  288, 


460 


INDEX. 


Congregational  Clnirches,  17,  72. 

Congregational  Ministers,  89,  50,  67, 
95,  98,  104,  lOG,  119,  123,  146,  278, 
313. 

Congregational  Order,  11,  16. 

Congregational  Society  in  New  Lon- 
don, 323. 

Congregational  Society  in  North  Strat- 
ford, 142. 

Congregational  Society  in  Stratford, 
21. 

Congregational  Society  in  Waterbury, 
131. 

Congregationalism,  42,  84,  110,  131, 
140,  154,  159, 195,  274. 

Congregationalists,  22,  26,  28,  63,  70, 
73,  95,  182,  138.  143,  147,  155,  176, 
181,  193,  201,  215,  230,  255. 

Congress  of  tlie  Colonies,  239,  311, 
315,  322,  330,  333,  341-343,  351,  363. 

Connecticut,  Coinicil  of,  311,  312. 

Connecticut  churchmen,  61,  290,  331, 
338,  340,  383,  441. 

Connecticut  clnirches  closed,  318 ; 
churclies  in,  388. 

Connecticut,  General  Assembly  of, 
10,  16,  25,  29,  39,  67,  71,  86,  91, 
101,  106,    no,  131,    140,  165,  166, 

171,  280,  302,  311,  318,  344,  353, 
384,  421,  427,  434. 

Connecticut  River,  9,  74,  236,  280, 
397. 

Connecticut,  History  of,  2,  104 ;  its 
settlement,  9;  its  cliarter,  10;  col- 
ony of,  12,  17,  19,  42,  84,  87,  98,  112, 
116,  129,  153,  176,  207,  263,  265, 
346  ;  people,  20,  85  ;  mentions  of,  52, 
62,  81,  100,  105,  128,  131, 143,  157, 

172,  212,  292,  408,  415 ;  parishes  in, 
91,  103, 139,  383,  397  ;  laymen  of,  or 
laity  in,  119,  380,  420;  commissary 
for,  asked,  134-136  ;  Tories  in,  309  ; 
missionaries  in,  177,  189,  317,  332,' 
866  ;  State  of,  359  ;  Bishop  of,  399, 
402,  405,  412,  418,  422,  428,  487 ; 
courts  in,  438. 

Consociation  of  New  Haven  county, 

194. 
Continental  Congress,  304,  309,  320. 
Continental  Fast,  304. 
Continental  representation  of  Church, 

374. 
Convention  of  delegates,  Presbyterian 

and  Congregational,  255,  283-286, 

288    29 1 
Convention,   General,    375-382,  389- 

396,  403-415,  419,  429, 434,  436-438. 
Convocation,  373,  401,  414,  415,  418- 

420,  422,  425,  434,  435,  487. 


Cooper,  Rev.  Dr.  Myles,  261,  302. 

Cornwall,  190,  200,  201. 

Cornwallis,  Lord,  341. 

Court  of  Chancery,  280. 

Coventry,  261. 

Cranmer,  31. 

Cromwell,  Ohver,  13,  98,  117. 

Cutler,  Rev.  Timotliy,  minister  at 
Stratford,  22 ;  removal  to  Yale  Col- 
lege, 23,  446  ;  conferencs  in  library, 
32 ;  conversion  to  Episcopacy,  37-39 ; 
defence  of  Episcopacy,  41 ;  removed 
from  his  office,  and  embarks  for 
England,  43  ;  ordained,  47  ;  visits 
the  Universities,  and  ♦.octorated,  49  ; 
returns  to  America,  and  is  stationed 
at  Boston,  51  ;  death,  52;  mentions 
of,  86,  87,  89,  188;  letter  of,  146; 
letter  of  resignation,  445. 

Cyprian,  422. 


D. 

Dana,  James,  194. 

Danbury,  68,  211,  212,  271,  328,  435. 

Davenport,  Christopher,  12. 

Davenport,  James,  125,  137. 

Davenport,  Rev.  John,  9,  12, 13. 

Davenport,  John,  minister  at  Stam- 
ford, 40. 

Davies,  Rev.  Thomas,  204,  205,  237, 
292. 

Davies,  John,  141. 

Dean,  Rev.  Barzillai,  143. 

Deane,  Silas,  311. 

Dean's  farm,  83. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  311, 
315,  323,  389. 

Declaratory  Act,  246. 

De  Lancey,  Lieutenant-Governor,  178. 

Delaware,  390,  392,  393. 

Delft  Haven,  1. 

Derby,  112,  118,  128,  136,  157,  162, 
190,  198,  238,  271,  809,  882,  386, 
423. 

Derry,  Dean  of,  76. 

Dibblee,  Rev.  Ebenezer,  goes  to  Eng- 
land for  Orders,  155  ;  Missionary  at 
Stamford  and  Greenwich,  155,  173, 
189,  211,  212;  letters  to  Society, 
251,  300;  mentions  of,  346,  365, 
884,  418  ;  doctorated,  419. 

Dickinson,  Jonathan,  94,  97,  98,  137. 

Dickinson,  Moses,  174. 

Diocesan  Bishops,  or  Episcopacy,  283, 
284. 

Dissenters  in  England,  16,  193,  283, 
284,  449. 


INDEX. 


461 


Dissenters  in  America,  41,  105,  117, 

180,  2G2,  208. 
Dissenters  in  Newtown,  75,  174. 
Dobbs,  Governor,  197. 
Doblois,  Mr.  Gilbert,  189. 
Doctors  of  Divinity,  college  of,  418, 

419. 
Doolittle,   Isaac,   171,  172,  224,   227. 

324. 
Diiche',  Rev.  Jacob,  398. 
Duke  of  Newcastle,  2(57. 
Dummer,  Jeremiah,  35. 
Durliam,  28(J. 
Ducliess  County,  277. 
Dutcli  Reformed,  269. 
Dutch,  the,  8,  9. 


E. 


Earl  of  Thanet,  45. 

Eastcliester,  185. 

Easter  meetings,  324. 

Eastern  Colonies,  146. 

Eastern  Diocese,  4.38. 

East  Haddam,  1(57.  422. 

East  Haven,  223,  225,  397. 

East  Jersey,  18. 

East  Plymouth,  397,  398,  437. 

Eaton,  Tlieophiiiis,  12. 

Edward  VI.,  3,  413. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  123,  124,  260. 

Eliot,  Jared,28,  42. 

ElizalK-th,  Queen,  2,  4. 

Elizai)tthtown,  243,  255,  283,  296. 

Endicott,  John,  1. 

England,  Ri-formation  in,  3,  8  ;  men- 
tions of.  7,  9,  11,  23.  43,  46,  49,  64, 
66,  69,  80,  87-92,  105,  111,  114, 117, 
122, 130,  15.5,  168, 183,  184, 196, 197, 
207, 208,  225,  228,  212,  244.  252,  254, 
260,  265,  269,  293,  360,  365, 369,  381 ; 
prime  minister  in,  77  ;  laws  of,  129, 
226,  299,  448  ;  Rrimate  of,  256,  266, 
390;  lossof  Colonies,  268;  war  with 
other  nations,  336;  legacies  in,  for 
American  Episcopate,  345,  357 ; 
Bishops  of,  389. 

English  Bishops,  or  prelates,  144,  362- 
364,  390,  391,  393-395,  407,  408. 

English  Church,  4,  8,  16,  83,  302. 

Englisli  Clergy,  317. 

"  English  Consecrate,"  400. 

English  Hierarchy,  232. 

English  Protestants,  3. 

English  Reformers,  3. 

English  Theology,  35,  45,  61. 

Episcopacy,  10,  13,  21,  22,  29,  30,  39, 
49,  62,  66,  58,  62,  66,  72,  86,  89,  91, 


94,  97,  100,  118,  126,  128,  132,  144, 

154,  157, 160,  172, 174,  176, 181,  205, 

212,  214,  210,  220,  280,  282,  313,  349, 

361-364,  397. 
Episcopal  Academy,  427,  434,  436. 
Episcopal  Church,  21,  38,93,  104, 154, 

230,  278,  287,  373-375,  382.  416,  425. 
Episcopal  clergy,  13,  43,  65,  85,  151, 

159,  169,  173,  182, 195,  233,  255,  401. 
Episcopal  controversv,  30. 
Episcopal  families,  103,  172, 182,  221. 
Episcopal   Orders,  or  ordination,  36, 

38,  40,  60,  147,  201,  360,  370. 
Episcopal   parishes,    07,  84,  91,  110, 

306,  388. 
Episcopal  Regency,  450. 
Episcopal  students,  181, 182,  231,  447, 

448. 
Episcopal   separation    in  New  Eng- 
land, 173,  195. 
Episcopalians,  57,  70,  72.  73,  84,  142, 

154,  189,  197,  201,  238,  278,  286-289, 

291,  362,  .384,  426. 
Episcopate,  47,  50,  252,  256,  2-58,  263, 

266-268,  291,  349,  362,  370,  373,  377, 

389,  390,  396,  403,  406. 
Europe,  14,  47,  79,  80,  336. 
Europeans,  163,  186. 
Evans,  Rev.  Evan,  23. 


Fairfield;  churchmen  in,  21,  23,  53, 
66-60,  66,  102 ;  their  trials  and  pe- 
titions, 59,  67-71 ;  church  built,  58, 
64;  mentions  of,  92,  101,  129,  139, 
143,  153,  169,  173,  189,  231,  242, 
277,  288,  426  ;  larger  church  built, 
103,  118;  town  and  church  burnt, 
324-327  ;  church  rebuilt,  384. 

Fairfield  County,  73,  212,  238,  289. 

Fairfield,  North,  211,  325,  384. 

Fanning,  Colonel,  306. 

Federal  Constitution,  403. 

Fellows  of  Yale  College,  181, 447, 450. 

Flushing,  L.  I.,  32.5. 

Fogg.  Rev.  Daniel,  281,  318,  346,  355. 

Fort  Griswold,  337,  338. 

Fort  Trumbull,  337. 

Fowle,  Rev.  John,  156,  173,  189. 

Foxcroft,  95. 

France,  4.  142,  336.  341,  342. 

Franke,  Professor,  121. 

Franklin,  Dr.  Benjamin,  178,  242, 
340-342. 

Freethinkers,  179. 

French  court,  340. 

French,  the,  8,  76,  192. 


462 


INDEX. 


French  War,  old,  189. 
Future  punishment,  193. 


General  Constitution  of  the  Church, 
*214,  381. 

General  Court,  9,  25,  56,  227,  262. 

General  Gage,  311. 

General  Putnam,  318. 

General  Tryon,  309,  324-328,  383. 

General  Warren,  313. 

Genevan  scheme,  4. 

George  II.,  77. 

George  III.,  319,  336. 

Georgia,  121,  243,  380. 

Gerr3%  Elbridge,  334. 

Gibbs,  Kev.  AVilliam,  143,  162,  190, 
208. 

Gibson,  Bishop,  50,  78,  86,  267. 

Giles,  Mr.,  254. 

Gold,  Hezekiah,  127. 

Gold,  Nathan,  56,  67. 

Goodrich,  Rev.  Elizur,  286,  289. 

Gordon,  Rev.  Patrick,  18. 

Gorges,  Sir  Ferdinando,  8. 

Graliani,  John,  95,  96. 

Grammar  School,  303. 

Granby,  397. 

Graves,  Rev.  Matthew,  159,  160 ;  let- 
ter to  Bishop  of  London,  163,  164; 
opposes  memorial  of  churchmen, 
166;  letters  to  Society,  209,  235, 
280,  282;  separation  from  his  peo- 
ple, and  death,  321-323  ;  mentions 
of,  339,  346. 

Great  Barrington,  205,  293,  306,  346. 

Great  Britain,  244,  246,  283,  300,  315, 
318,  320,  362,  366,  369. 

Green,  Dr.,  Bishop  of  Norwich,  47. 

Greenwich,  142,  155,  162,  209. 

Gregory,  Nazianzen,  93. 

Gregson  land,  171. 

Gregson,  Thomas,  168,  224-227. 

Gregson,  William,  114,  115,  168,  170, 
224. 

Griffith,  Rev.  David,  President  of 
Convention,  389  ;  Bishop  Elect  of 
Virginia,  395;  death,  406. 

Griswold,  Rev.  Mr.,  437. 

Groton,  84,  86,  127,  206. 

Griimm(m's  Hill,  327. 

Guilford,  34,  141,  158,  161,  162,  166, 
167,  172,  198,  209,  223,  269,  270,  275. 

Guilford,  North,  142,  270. 

Gunn,  Nathaniel,  92. 


H. 

Halifax,  243. 

Hamden,  289,  397. 

Hampton  Court,  49. 

Hart,  John,  28,  ?>0,  42. 

Hartford,  25,  208,  219,  279,  311,  318, 
440. 

Hartford  County,  278. 

Hartford  jail,  163,  316. 

Hartley,  Mr.,  341. 

Harvard  University,  36,  63,  86,  123 
143,  147,  156,  188,  194,  230,  281. 

Harwinton,  397,  438. 

Hawkins,  Rev.  Ernest.  252. 

Hawley,  Capt.  Jehiel,  190. 

Heathcote,  Caleb,  19-21,  24,  26,  55,  62. 

Hebron,  99,  118,  133,  161,  164,  207, 
.306. 

Hedge,  Lemuel,  313. 

Henipstead,  L.  I.,  100,  143,  310. 

Henrietta  Maria,  4. 

Henry  the  Great,  4. 

Herbert,  George,  34. 

Higginson,  119. 

History  of  the  Colonial  Church,  77. 

History  of  New  England,  6, 14. 

Hobart,  Bishop,  297,  419. 

Hobart,  Noah,  81,  173,  195,  231,  448. 

Hodges,  Dr.,  296. 

Holbrook,  Capt.  John,  308. 

Holland,  342. 

Hollis,  41. 

Hopkinson,  Francis,  389. 

Hopkinton,  113. 

Hubbard,  Rev.  Bela,  goes  to  Eng- 
land for  ordination,  210;  opens  tho 
church  at  Milford,  238 ;  removes  to 
New  Haven,  269,  270;  letters  to 
Society,  275,  292  ;  mentions  of,  303, 
323,  324,  346,  355,  359,  367, 409,  418, 
430,  434 ;  opens  the  church  at  Beth- 
any, 398. 

Hudibras,  114. 

Humphrey,  Rev.  D.,  8. 

Hunter,  Governor,  25,  177. 

Huntington,  53,  189. 

Huntington  Bay,  L.  L,  327. 


Ignatius,  422. 

Independence,    American,    171,   247, 

264,  291,  342. 
Independency,  7,  177. 
Independent  ministers,  57,  74,  96, 123, 

132,  248. 


INDEX. 


463 


Inrlepcndents,  7,  33,  56,  70,  89,  232, 
312. 

Indians,  9,  90,  91,  174,  186,  187,  192, 
229.  263,  280.  297. 

Inglis.  Rev.  Cliarles.  114;  letter  of, 
316.  318,  350  ;  his  losses,  356 ;  Bish- 
op of  Nova  Scotia,  357. 

Ireland,  76,  80,  361. 

Ives,  llev.  Keuben,  386,  397,  426,  436. 


J. 


James  I.,  2,  4,  8. 

James  II.,  362. 

Jarvis,  Hev.  Abraham,  197 ;  goes  to 
England  for  ordination,  210 ;  ex- 
tract from  letter  to  the  Society, 
276.  277 ;  presides  at  Convention 
in  New  Haven.  318 ;  Secretary  of 
Convention,  347-350,  355,  359.  367  ; 
one  of  a  committee  to  alter  Prayer 
Book,  373 ;  elected  to  proceed  to 
Scotland  for  consecration.  399 ;  Del- 
egate to  the  General  Convention, 
409;  doctorated,  418,  419  ;  one  of  a 
committee  to  revise  the  Articles, 
434 ;  mentions  of,  323,  346,  438. 

Jay,  John,  341. 

Jeanes,  William,  25,  53. 

Jew,  69. 

Jewel.  441. 

Johnson,  Rev.  Samuel,  28,  30,  32-36; 
goes  to  England  for  ordination,  43, 
47.  49;  returns  to  America,  51; 
Missionary  at  Stratford.  52-54 ;  his 
trials  and  labors,  56-60 ;  reports  to 
the  Society.  64-68,  74 ;  visits  to 
Dean  Berkeley  at  Newport,  and 
intimacy  with  him,  81-84  ;  minis- 
trations in  several  places,  85.  87,  89, 
92 ;  drawn  into  controversy,  94- 
96 ;  letter  to  him  from  the  Bishop 
of  Gloucester,  101 ;  inquires  about 
Whitcfield,  105;  memorial  to  the 
General  Assembly.  110-112  ;  letters 
about  Mr.  Arnold.  114-118;  per- 
sonal character.  126-128;  White- 
field  and  his  influence,  130-133; 
selected  for  Commissary  in  Con- 
necticut, 134-136 ;  receives  from 
Oxford  the  degree  of  D.  D.,  137  ; 
pleads  for  an  American  Episcopate, 
142,  144  ;  letters  to  the  Society,  148, 
149, 157,  163, 166.  177, 197,  205,  208, 
209,  221,  237-239.  269;  letters  to 
the  Bishop   of  London,   152,   164; 


baptisms  in  New  Haven,  168:  an- 
other controversy,  174 ;  President 
of  King's  College,  178-183;  death 
of  his  younger  son,  and  letters 
about  him.  ] 84-186;  preface  to 
sermon.  193;  letters  to  Archbishop 
Seeker.  196. 198,  204,  210,  229,  243, 
254.  255;  preaches  at  Convention 
in  Ripton.  212;  death  of  his  wife, 
and  return  to  Stratford,  216-218; 
succeeds  Mr.  Winslow.  220;  let- 
ter to  Franklin,  242;  counsels  Dr. 
Chandler,  257,  201 ;  death,  293,  294  ; 
Autobiography,  and  Chandler's  Life, 
296,  297;  gratuity  from  Yale  Col- 
lege, 446 ;  letter  to  President  Clap, 
447. 

Johnson,  Dr.  William  Samuel,  lay 
reader,  162;  special  agent  to  Eng- 
land, 263  ;  correspondence  with  his 
tiather  about  American  Bishops, 
204-266  ;  with  Bishop  Lowth  and 
Dr.  Berkeley,  290.  291  ;  reception 
at  Stratford,  294;  chairman  of 
committee,  305  ;  his  course  in  re- 
gard to  the  Revolution,  311 ;  Dele- 
gate to  the  Convention  for  framing 
the  Federal  Constitution,  403  ;  Pres- 
ident of  Columbia  College,  423 ; 
retirement  to  Stratford,  and  death, 
423. 

Johnson,  Rev.  William,  183,  185. 

Johnson,  Sir  William,  258. 

Judea,  190. 


K. 


Keith,  Rev.  George,  18,  20,  252. 

Kent,  190. 

Kilgour,  Robert,  Bishop  of  Aberdeen, 
363. 

King  and  Royal  Family,  316,  318, 
336. 

King,  Archbishop,  35. 

King,  prayers  for,  318-321,  325,  331. 

King's  Chapel,  143. 

King's  College.  178,  261,  269. 

King's  Farm.  179. 

King's  troops.  300,  343. 

Kingsbridge,  306. 

Kitts,  St.,  76,  79. 

Kneeland,  Rev.  Ebenezer,  assistant 
minister  at  Stratford,  269,  295 ;  suc- 
ceeds Rev.  Dr.  Johnson,  297;  his 
death,  317  ;  mention  of,  346. 

Knox,  General,  334. 


464 


INDEX. 


Labarie,  Dr.  James,  56. 

Laity,  233,  377,  378. 

Lainberton,  George,  225. 

Lambeth  Library,  267. 

Lambetli  Palace,  chapel  of,  396. 

Lamson,  Rev.  Joseph,  assistant  min- 
ister at  Kye,  li2;  Missionary  at 
Fairfield,  153-155,  173,  189;  letter 
to  Society,  242;  death,  277. 

Land  Records,  169. 

Landing  Place,  Norwich,  141. 

Latimer,  31. 

Laud,  Arclibishop,  5,  6. 

Lanrens,  Henry,  341. 

Law,  Jonathan,  140. 

Lay  delegates,  406,  409,  411,  413,  420. 

League,  New  England,  14. 

Leaming,  Rev.  Jeremiah,  mentions 
of,  156,  157,  279,  3-50,  355,  3-59,  409, 
■  410,  414,  422;  letters  to  Society, 
213,  241,  251,  328;  funeral  sermon, 
295;  treatment,  316  ;  chosen  Bisliop, 
347,399;  preaches  Convention  Ser- 
mon, 370  ;  letters  to  Bishop  White, 
376,  403;  death,  410. 

Ledyard,  100. 

Legislature,  Lower  House,  107,  305, 
311. 

Legislature  of  Connecticut,  106,  311, 
397. 

Legislature  in  Massachusetts,  262. 

Legislature  in  Virginia,  262. 

Leighton.  6. 

"Letter  to  a  Friend,"  256. 

Le.xington,  299,  311. 

Leyden,  Pilgrims  of,  1,  7. 

Liberty,  Sons  of,  316,  319. 

Libraries  of  the  clergy,  277. 

Library,  Trinity  College,  440. 

Library,  Yale  Colleare,  28,  29,  32,  34, 
35,  41,  64,  80,  82,  220. 

Lincoln,  See  of,  50. 

Litchfield,  141,  161,  173,  203,  205, 
220-223,  237,  273,  281,  293,  329, 
414,  421,  42.5,  432. 

Litchfield  County,  190,  191,  200,  201, 
204,  237,  397. 

Liturgy  of  the  American  Church,  373, 
379,  381, 382,  395,  413-415,  429, 433. 

Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England,  3, 
17,  31,  5.5,  58,  92,  97,  102,  141,  152, 
156,  179,  194,  199,  236,  312,  315, 
318-321,  325,  355,  375,  388,  391-393, 
400,  413,  450. 

Livingston,  William,  114,  179,  257, 
259 

Lloyd,  149. 


London,  12,  18,  41,  44,  50,  80, 116, 133, 

135,  168,  232,  262,  267,  286,  289,  351, 

358,  365,  398. 
Long  Island,  60,  100,  148,  305,  310, 

348. 
Lords  in  Council,  263. 
Lords,  House  of,  246,  353. 
Lords  of  Trade  and  Plantations,  259. 
Lowth,  Bishop,  266,  290,  294. 
Loyal  American  Regiment,  306. 
Loyalists,  327,  335,  342,  343,  351,  352, 

355,  356. 
Lyman,  Mrs.,  303. 
Lyons,  Rev.  James,  136,  157. 


M. 


Macaulay,  7. 

Maclcintosh,  Sir  James,  79. 

Madison,  Rev.  James,  Bishop  of  Vir 
ginia,  428,  429,  440. 

Maine,  14. 

Malbone,  Godfrey,  273-275,  281. 

Manhattan,  9. 

Mansfield,  Lord,  246. 

Mansfield,  Rev.  Richard,  Missionary 
located  at  Derby,  148, 156,  162, 173, 
190,  271 ;  tour  of,  272 ;  mentions  of, 
292,  346,  355,  434;  loyalty  and 
flight,  308-310 ;  chosen  Bishop,  399 ; 
doctorated,  419  ;  death  of,  423. 

Mansfield,  Stephen,  224. 

Marsh,  148. 

Marsh,  Rev.  Truman,  414,  426. 

Marshall,  Rev.  John  R.,  goes  to  Eng- 
land for  Orders,  and  Missionary  at 
Woodbury,  269,  271,  329,  346  ;  del- 
egate to  Convention,  374 ;  death  of, 
416. 

Mason,  263. 

Mass  ]\Ianual,  96. 

Massachusetts,  10,  14,  36,  52,  84,  10-5, 
123, 143,  255,  292,  311,  346,  351,  374, 
403,  404. 

Massachusetts  Bay,  colony  of,  1. 

Massachusetts,  Church  in,  405,  436. 

Mather,  Cotton,  12,  39,  225. 

Mayhew,  Dr.  Jonathan,  228-234. 

McKenzie,  Dougal,  103. 

Medulla  and  Cases  of  Conscience,  183. 

Memoirs  of  Protestant  Episcopal  Ch., 
349,  413. 

Meriden,  206,  397. 

Methodism,  142,  158. 

Middle  Haddam,  280,  397. 

Middle  States,  376. 

Middletown,  churchmen  in,  141,  161, 
166;    church  built,   159,   167,  173, 


INDEX. 


465 


277  ;  Church  in,  237,  348 ;  conven- 
tion in,  370,  373,  376,  379,  'SW,  420  ; 
ordination  in,  383,  4o0 ;  mentions 
of,  157,  lt)4,  190,  197,  288. 

MillorJ,  112,  •2iiii,  270,  427. 

Millington,  lb7. 

Miner,  Air.  Kichardson,  142,  155. 

Ministry,  Rritisii,  2tJ4,  267,  286,  363. 

"  Minute  Pliilosopher,"  78. 

"  Minutes  of  Convention,"  288. 

Mission  at  Bristol,  K.  I.,  47. 

Missionaries  in  Connecticut,  55,  74, 
85,  88,  110,112,  119,  143,  151-153, 
177,  186,  189,  199,  207.  235,  239- 
242;  condemnation  of,  127;  more 
wanted,  129;  convention  of,  213, 
214 ;  born  in  the  colony,  249 ; 
pleading  for  an  Episcopate,  264; 
fidelity  of,  268,  2;i2,  293  ;  resident, 
271;  bound  by  their  oaths,  315; 
confined  to  their  nii.-sions,  317  ;  loy- 
alty of,  332;  jjloomy  prospects  of, 
345;  withdrawing  to  British  prov- 
inces, 354. 

Missionaries  in  New  England,  114, 
260,  283,  288,  289. 

Missionary  College,  79. 

Mitre,  440. 

Mix's  Lane,  167. 

Mohcgans,  186,  187. 

Moore,  Kev.  Benjamin,  350,  373. 

Moravians,  144,  250. 

Morehouse,  Lemuel,  90. 

Morris,  Rev.  Theophilus,  117,  128, 
130,  132,  135,  136,  143. 

Mosely,  Rev.  Richard,  281. 

Moss,  Josepii,  40. 

Muirson,  Rev.  George,  20,  23,  24,  55. 


N. 


Narragansett,  85,  436. 

Naugatuck,  92. 

Neal,  Daniel,  6,  14. 

Newark,  116. 

New  Britain,  317. 

New  lirunswick,  N.  J.,  374. 

New  Brunswick,  province,  354. 

Newburgh,  277. 

New  Cambridge,  293,  397. 

New  Concord,  272. 

New  England,  44,  45,  61-68,  72,  86, 
104,  105, 113, 120.  122, 125, 134,  150, 
151,  1.38,  242,  218,  251,  256,  338,  367. 

New  England,  colonizing  of,  4,  7,  8. 

New  England  churches,  defence  of, 
261. 

New  England  colleges,  147,  230. 
80 


New  England,  Congregational  minis- 
ters in,  50,  313. 

New  England,  Independents  in,  312. 

New  England  people,  302. 

New  England  Puritans,  14. 

New  England  States,  312,  380,  399, 
407,  411. 

New  England  Theology,  194. 

New  Hampshire,  255,  271,  272,  292, 

379,  386,  404,  405,  407. 

New  Haven,  33,  64-66,  75,  83,  113- 
11.5,  124,  140,  167,  171,  206,  220- 
228,  237,  269,  289, 325,  416,  445,  446  ; 
General  Assembly  in,  107, 138,  302, 
303,  359;  churchmen  in,  118,  148, 
149,  172,  275;  Churcli  in,  161,  176, 
198,  292,  367, 421 ;  church  built,  173, 
182;  convention  in,  193,  270,  318, 
323,  420,  434 ;  convocation  in,  373, 

380,  426. 

New  Haven,  Colony  of,  10,  12,  225. 

New  Haven  Countv,  146, 168, 19.5, 198, 
397, 

New  Jersey,  24,  94,  98,  137,  318,  374, 
377,  392' 

New  Lights,  126,  140, 147,  194. 

New  London,  visited,  18,  74 ;  church 
built,  60,  85,  92;  churchmen  in,  84, 
86,  99,  161,  165 ;  mentions  of,  136, 
163,  235,  288,  321-323,  367;  con- 
vention in,  113;  church  burnt,  337; 
rebuilt,  383  ;  consecrated,  398. 

New  London  County,  100. 

New  Milfbrd,  141,  189,  190,  203,  204, 
237,  270,  272,  288.  293,  425. 

Newport,  77,  81,  273,  274,  422,  450. 

New  Preston,  421. 

Newton,  Rev.  Christopher,  189,  199, 
211,  346,  355;  death,  397. 

Newtown,  churchmen  in,  53-58,  98, 
175,  192,  239,  275,  278, 289, 298, 319, 
330  ;  services  in,  68,  75 ;  mentions 
of,  173,  174,  188,  189,  250,  271,  295, 
386;  church  built,  89-92;  second 
church  built,  139;  third  church 
built,  431;  Tories  in,  309;  convoca- 
tion in,  415,  418. 

New  World,  62,  362,  432. 

New  York,  province  or  colony  of,  19, 
20,  74,  75,  85, 101, 143,  1.56,  200,  212, 
304,  318,  352 ;  provincial  congress 
of,  305 ;  city  of,  26  52, 122, 124,  136, 
178-181, 185,  240,  254,  2-56,  322,  324, 
328,  337,  341,  346,  347,  385,  403, 416, 
423,  426,  447;  State  of,  351,  374, 
392,398,419;  Diocese,  430;  clergy 
of,  356,  404;  Bishop  of,  395,  399, 
428,  436. 

New  York  Gazette,  259. 


466 


INDEX. 


Nicene  Creed,  381,  395,  415. 

Nichols,  Rev.  James,  293,  346,  354. 

Niles,  Samia'I,  145. 

Norfield,  139. 

North  America,  291. 

Northampton.  124. 

Northbury,  131,  132,  293,  421. 

North  Carolina,  197,  281,  381. 

North-Castle,  142,  153. 

Northern  Clergy,  315. 

Northern  Governments,  179. 

North  Fairfield,  211,  325,  384. 

Northtiehl,  397. 

North  Groton,  86,  91,  100,  118,  126, 
438. 

North  Haven,  49,  113,  129,  131,  168, 
198,  206,  236,  289. 

North  Miltbrd,  113. 

Norton,  William,  85. 

Norwalk,  Congregational  minister  at, 
40,174;  churchmen  in,  .53,  68,  155; 
lay  reading,  and  church  built,  102, 
104,  lib,  130,  138,  139,  213;  town 
and  church  burnt,  327,  346 ;  church 
rebuilt,  384. 

Norwich,  desires  a  Missionary,  100 ; 
church  built,  141,  161,  186 ;  ser- 
vices in,  160, 167  ;  mentions  of,  209, 
235,  270,  273,  274,  288,  320,  337 

Norwich  Town,  187. 

Nova  Scotia,  352,  353,  355-357. 


O. 


Ogilvie,  Rev.  John,  155. 

Old  Colony,  9. 

Old  Lights,  126,  140,  194. 

Old  World,  294,  432. 

Orange,  1 13. 

Ordination  at  Middletown,  370. 

Orem,  Rev.  James,  46. 

Orphan  House,  121,  122. 

O.xford,   University   of,  49,  137,  243, 

265;  Bishop  of,  268,  290,  291,  356. 
Oxford,  Ct.,  198;  church  in,  271,  309. 


Paine's  "Age  of  Reason,"  4.32. 

Palmer,  Rev.  Solomon,  declares  for 
Episcopacy,  189 ;  Missionary  in 
Litchfield  County,  lyO,  199,  203; 
letters  to  Society,  200,  228 ;  or- 
dered to  Am  boy,  N.  J.,  205;  re- 
moves to  New  Haven,  220-223; 
returns  to  I  itchfield,  237 ;  death  of, 
393. 


Paris,  343. 

Parker,  Rev.   Samuel,  373,  374 ;  let- 
ters to  Bishop   Seabury,  379,  380, 

402;  Bishop  of  Massachusetts,  403; 

mediation  of,  404-406  ;  delegate  to 

General  Convention,  410. 
Parliament,  6,  244,  246,  247,  253,  255, 

320,  341,  358,  360,  361,  394,  398. 
Parochial  Register,  New  Haven,  323, 

430. 
Parochial  Register,  Stratford,  53,  85, 

87,  89,  111,  186. 
Pennsylvania,  374,  405,  411. 
Perry,  Rev.  David,  435. 
Perry,  Rev.  Philo,  386,  426. 
Peters,  Rev.  Samuel,  207,  236,  273  ; 

mobbed,   .306;    flight    to   England, 

307,  346. 
Petrie,  Bishop,  363. 
Philadelphia,  23,  178,  283,    311,  315, 

375,    378,    379,   398,  403,  409,  410. 

421,  434,  436. 
Philips,  Rev.  Francis,  26,  63. 
Pierce,  Dr.,  189. 
Pierpont,  James,  124. 
Pierson,  Rev.  John,  87. 
Pigot,   Rev.   George,   Missionary    at 

Stratford,  27,  28,   32;    removes  to 

Providence,  47 ;  letter  to  Society, 

60 ;  mentions  of,  53,  55,  58,  63,  65, 

85. 
Pilmore,  Rev.  Joseph,  392. 
Pitkin,  William,  10. 
Pitt,  William,  246. 
Plaipfield,  273,  274. 
Plymouth,  131,  293. 
Plymouth  Colony,  1,  9. 
Pomfret,  274,  318. 
Pope,  12. 
Popery,  41. 
Poquetannock,  100. 
Portland,  397. 
Portsmouth,  272. 
Presbyterianism,  50. 
Presbyterians,  13,  147,  161,  179,  193, 

200,  254,  255. 
Presbj'teriau  ministers,  107,  368. 
Presbyterian   ordination,    29,  30,   86, 

38,  58.  231. 
Presbyters,  40. 

President  Stiles,  172,  343,  368. 
Price,  Rev.  Roger,  134,  136. 
Primacy,  5,  267. 
Primate,  6,  266,  268,  390. 
Primitive  Ciiurch,  29,  364. 
Princess  Royal,  79. 
Privy  Council,  252. 
Proctors,  415. 
Protector,  13. 


INDEX. 


467 


Protest,  304.  415,  421. 

Protestant  Bishop,  232,  250,  867. 

Protestjints,  2. 

Providence,  47,  273. 

Provincial  Government,  21. 

Provoost,  Rev.  Samuel,  3U2,  395 ;  con- 
secrated Bishop  in  England,  396  ; 
mentions  of,  o'J'J,  404,  40G-408,  411, 
428,  437. 

Punderson,  Rev.  Ebenezer,  declares 
for  Episcopacy,  91,  92,  99;  Mission- 
ary at  Nortli  Groton  and  Norwich, 
100,  110;  letters  to  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, 126,  127 ;  letters  to  Society, 
166,  167 ;  Missionary  at  New  Ha- 
ven, 172,  173,  190,  198;  at  Rye, 
22U-223  ;  mentions  of,  141, 163,  168, 
206,  209,  231. 

Puritanism,  18,  64,  123,  339. 

Puritans,  origin  of,  2,  3  ;  their  suffer- 
ings, 4-8 ;  faith  or  worship  of,  43, 
44,  62;  treatment  of  cliurchmen, 
61;  lingering  reverence  for  the 
Church,  119. 


Q. 


Quakers,  14,  18,  71,  81. 
Queen's  College,  Oxford,  273. 
Quincy's  "  History  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity," 63. 
Quinuipiack  harbor,  10. 


Ramsgate,  44. 

Read,  Mr.,  21,  22. 

Rector  Williams,  84,  448. 

Redding,  55,  68,  90-92,  173,  175,  189, 
202,  298,  318,  319,  330,  421,  435. 

Redding  Association  of  Loyalists,  319. 

Reformation  in  England,  2,  3,  31. 

Reformed  Church,  5. 

Reformers,  450. 

Registry  Hook,  65. 

Relief  of  Widows  and  Orphans,  corpo- 
ration of,  374. 

Revolution  of  1688,  362. 

Revolution,  American,  246,  278-280, 
289,  291,  2'.t4,  305,  361 ;  Tories  of, 
313,  335,  342. 

Rhode  L'^land,  28.  46,  47,  63,  74,  76, 
77,  79-83,  85,  122, 124, 141,374,  436, 
439;  clergy  of,  379,  383 ;  Standing 
Committee  of,  450-452. 

Ridgefield,  68,  129,  130,  139,  142,  153, 
155,  213,4.35. 

Ridley,  31. 


Ripton,  53,  55,  57,  75, 162,  189,  191. 
Robinson,  Dr.  Bishop  of  Loudon,  45, 

47,  49. 
Robinson,  John,  7. 
J\ockingliam  Ministry,  246. 
Romanists,  2.30. 
Rome,  12  ;  Church  of,  29. 
Ross  and  Moray,  363. 
Ro.xbury,  Mass.,  123. 
Roxbury,  141,  190. 
Royal  Cliarter,  106,  109. 
Ruggles,  Mr.  Thomas,  446. 
Russell,  Mr.  Samuel,  446. 
Rye,  52,  101,  153,  169,  205,  220-222. 


S. 


Sabine,  313,  351. 

Sackville,  Lord,  353. 

Salem,  Mass.,  119,  186,  405. 

Salem,  N.  Y..  192. 

Salisbury,  Bishop  of,  441. 

Saltonstall,  Mr.  "Gurdon,  minister  at 
New  London,  18 ;  governor  of  the 
colon}-,  29  ;  presides  over  debate  in 
college  library,  30,  39. 

Sandeman,  Robert,  211. 

Sanford,  Mr.,  115. 

Savannah,  121. 

Savbrook,  33. 

Saybrook  Platform,  42,  140,  195. 

Sayre,  Rev.  James,  protest  of,  415, 
421,  422,  424,  425 ;  his  death,  420. 

Sayre,  Rev.  John,  settled  at  Fairfield, 
277,  426 ;  letter  to  Society,  325 ;  re- 
tirement within  the  King's  lines, 
327,  346. 

Scotchman,  18. 

Scotland,  General  Assembly  of,  255 ; 
mentions  of,  306,  418 ;  Ciiurch  in, 
361,  362,  365,  378  ;  clergy  of,  401. 

Scottish  Bishops,  368,  377,  400. 

Scottish  Church.  398. 

Scottish  Episcopacy,  899,  404,  407, 
409,  429. 

Scottish  Liturgy,  888. 

Scovill,  Rev.  James,  goes  to  England 
for  Orders,  197  ;  labors  of,  237  ;  men- 
tions of,  199,  346 ;  removes  to  New 
Brunswick,  354,  355. 

Seabnry,  Rev.  Samuel,  declares  for 
Episcopacy,  86 ;  Missionary  at  New 
London,  86;  mentions  of,  91,  110; 
increase  of  his  parish,  99 ;  removal 
to   Hempstead,    100,  136,  143. 

Seabnry,  l^ev.  Samuel,  liis  son, 
mentions  of,  86,  156,  159,  379,  390, 
392,    399,    401,    407;    letters    to 


468 


INDEX. 


the  Society,  802,  365,  86G ;  chosen 
Bishop,  347 ;  goes  to  England  for 
consecration,  350;  arrival  in  Lon- 
don, 351 ;  letters  to  tlie  clergy  of 
Connecticut,  355,  300-307;  imjiedi- 
nients  to  his  consecration,  358-300; 
goes  to  Scotliind,  and  is  consecrated, 
303,  304  ;  reply  to  Dr.  Home,  305  ; 
arrival  at  New  London,  367  ;  ad- 
dress of  clergy,  308;  repl3',  369; 
first  ordination,  370;  charge,  371; 
letter  to  Dr.  Smith,  377 ;  letters  of 
consecration,  378 ;  letter  to  Mr. 
Parker,  380;  second  charge,  382; 
Hector  of  the  parish  at  New  Lon- 
don, 353 ;  ordinations,  380,  393  ; 
consecrates  St.  James's  Cliurch,  398; 
his  orders  declared  valid,  400;  in- 
vited to  attend  General  Convention, 
408 ;  attends,  410 ;  assent  to  Gen- 
eral Constitution,  411;  in  council 
with  White,  413 ;  support  of,  421 ; 
preaches  sermon  at  General  Con- 
vention, 428;  joins  in  consecration 
of  Dr.  Claggett,  429 :  contirma- 
tions,  430;  foresight  of,  433  ;  doubts 
about  Articles,  434  ;  letter  to  Bishop 
White,  430 :  sets  forth  special  pray- 
ers, 438  ;  death,  439  :  monument, 
441. 

Sears,  Captain,  303. 

Seeker,  Arclibishop,  mentions  of,  184, 
294,  295;  defence  of  the  Society, 
228;  letters  to,  190,  198,  204,  229, 
257  ;  plea  for  religious  liberty,  2.30  ; 
reply  to  May  hew,  and  defence  of  the 
Church,  232,  233  ;  letter  from,  2-52; 
liis  death  and  character,  206,  267. 

Selectmen,  .309,  317,  318. 

"  Sentinel,"  259. 

Sharon,  190. 

Sh.irpe,  Rev.  Mr.,  24. 

Shelburiie,  352. 

Slielton,  Daniel,  55. 

Shelton,  Rev.  Philo,  383,  384,  422. 

Sheplierd's  Tent,  148. 

Sheridan,  352. 

Sherlock,  Bishop,  80,  267,  294. 

Skinner,  Bishop,  301-365,  400,  401. 

Smalridge,  80. 

Smith,  Rev.  Dr.  William,  Provost  of 
tlie  College  of  Philadelphia,  377, 
378,  408,  410. 

Smith,  Rev.  William,  451,  452. 

Smithfiold,  8. 

Sniithscn,  34. 

Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  chartered. 


17 ;  letters  to,  19,  50,  52,  55,  57,  59, 
60,  65,  66,  74,  8.5,  87,  111,  112,  115, 
117,  128,  148,  164, 167, 170, 175,  179, 
191-197, 205-215, 218,221-224,  236- 
238,  243,  269,  279,  280,  297,  298, 300, 
316  ;  sends  Missionary  to  Stratford, 
26 ;  archives  of,  38 ;  mentions  of, 
165,  201 ;  operations  of,  62,  63 ; 
salary  of  Missionaries,  68 ;  advice 
of,  sougiit,  74, 160;  sermons  before, 
80,  81,^250.  201,  350,  857  ;  appeals 
to,  84,  80,  90,  182;  furnishes  Prayer 
Books,  90 ;  deed  to,  102 ;  Mission- 
aries of,  135,  1.52,  153,  189,  199; 
abstract  of,  139 ;  members  of,  40, 172, 
228 ;  charges  against,  174  ;  defence 
of,  228 ;  declines  to  establish  new 
missions,  251. 

Solitary  Cove,  225. 

Soutb  Carolina,  392,  437. 

Southbury,  95. 

Southington,  397. 

Spain,  342. 

Spaniards,  8. 

Stamford,  mentions  of,  101,  129,  384; 
church  built,  142,  173  ;  parish  of, 
155;  churchmen  in,  162;  conven- 
tion in,  401. 

Stamp- Act,  passage  of,  239,  243,  248, 
251 ;  its  repeal,  246. 

Standard,  Rev.  Mr.,  188,  185. 

Standing  Committee  in  Connecticut, 
419,  450-452. 

Standing  Committee,  Rhode  Island, 
450-452. 

Stanhope,  Dr.,  45. 

State  House,  167. 

Staten  Island,  116,  139. 

States,  342,  345,  351,  856,  368,  373- 
376,  380,  382,  390,  392,  402. 

St.  Sophia,  93. 

St.  Stephen's  Church,  London,  12. 

Stratfield,  154,  155,  173,  384  ;  conven- 
tion in,  409. 

Stratford,  churchmen  in,  17,  23,  25- 
27,  54,  62,  71,  177,  239  ;  application 
for  Missionary,  and  visits  of  minis- 
ter, 19-24  ;  church  built,  52,  58  ; 
removal  of  families  from,  74;  larger 
church  built,  138  ;  mentions  of,  28, 
32,  55,  63,  69,  85,  89,  127, 158,  204, 
2)6,  210,  220,  269,  427,  445-447; 
Church  in,  65,  103,  186,  296,  370, 
422,  423 ;  its  increase,  128,  154 ; 
organ, 189  ;  convention  in,  250,  435. 

Sturgeon,  149. 

Synods,  179,  254,  255,  283,  288;  Synod 
of  Bishops,  868. 


INDEX. 


469 


T. 


Talbot  Rev.  John,  18,  24,  85,  252. 

Talbot,  Mr.  St.  George,  212,  238. 

Taicott,  Governor,  72,  124,  140. 

Tasliua,  cliurcli  built  in,  I'JI,  211; 
clnireli  at,  425. 

Taylor,  Mr.  J.,  193. 

Teiiison,  Archbisiiop,  267. 

Tenncnt,  Gilbert,  125. 

Thames  River,  337. 

'J'iieoiofjy,  New  Light,  147. 

"  The  Propo.scd  Book,"  381,  389,412. 

Thompson,  Rev.  Ebenezer,  143,  167. 

Todd,  Samuel,  132. 

Toleration,  Act  of,  16. 

Tories  in  Connecticut,  309,  315,  337. 

Town  House,  386. 

Townships,  seven,  107. 

Trinitv  Church,  New  Haven,  171, 
226,' 367  ;  Vestry  of,  224,  227,  421. 

Trinity  Church,  New  York,  179,  180, 
3.50. 

Trinity  College,  440. 

Trinity,  doctrine  of,  193. 

Trowbridge,  Daniel,  children  bap- 
tized, 168. 

Trumbull,  142. 

Trumbull,  Dr.,  2,  140. 

Trumbull,  Governor,  265. 

Trustees  of  King's  College,  178,  179. 

Trustees  of  Yale  College,  33,  37,  38, 
42,  43,  83,  446. 

Tunxis  River,  9. 

Tvler,  Rev.  John,  2G9,  270,  274,  320, 
'323,  346,  355. 


U. 


Union  Church,  129. 

Union,  federal,  335. 

United  States,  343,  345,  375,  406,  407. 

University  of  Cambridge,  49. 

Utrecht,  treaty  of,  76. 


V. 


Van  Rensselaer,  311. 

"  Vanity  of  Human  Institutions  in 
the  Wor.«liip  of  God,"  97. 

Venerable  Society,  202,  207,  219,  240, 
251,  265,  272,  293,  315,  347,  365,  366. 

Vermont,  292. 

Vesey,  Rev.  William,  19. 

Viets,  Rev.  Roger,  Missionary  at 
Simsbury,  208,  277,  292,  346  ;  im- 
prisoned, 31t) ;  farewell  address,  and 
removal  to  Nova  Scotia,  354. 


Vigilance,  Committees  of,  316. 

"  Vindication  of  the  Worship  of 
Church  of  England,"  97. 

Viner,  448,  449. 

Virgin  Mary,  29. 

Virginia,  mention  of,  392;  conven- 
tion in,  377  ;  Bishr>p  elect  of,  395, 
406;  Church  in,  428. 

Voltaire,  432. 


W. 


Walker,  123. 

Walker's  "Sufferings  of  the  Clergy," 
317. 

Wallingford  case,  194-196. 

Wallingford,  Church  in,  129,1.59, 161, 
164,  106;  church  built,  167;  Mis- 
sionary at,  190,  206,  236  ;  couven- 
tion  in,  359,  399. 

Walpole,  Sir  Robert,  76,  78. 

War  of  American  Independence,  171. 

Ward,  Moses,  70. 

Warwick,  313. 

Washington,  General,  227,  313,  329, 
332,  334,  341. 

Waterbury,  services  in,  92,  112,  197, 
238;  united  with  Derby,  136.  157  ; 
separate  mission,  197 ;  churclnnen 
in,  130,  131,  162,  288;  confirmation 
in,  430. 

Watertown,  131,  237,  329;  convoca- 
tion in,  419. 

Watkins,  Rev.  Hezekiah,  143. 

Webb,  Kev.  Joseph,  39,  67,  446. 

Welles,  Dr.  Noah,  231. 

Wells  Society,  19-5. 

Welton,  Rev.  Dr.,  252. 

Wesley,  121,  146. 

Westbury,  131,  237,  329. 

Westchester,  183,  185,  302,  303,  305, 
34S. 

Westchester  County,  20,  304. 

Westerly,  74. 

Western  world,  363,  864. 

West  Haven,  mentions  of,  28,  34,  157, 
1.58.  270,289,  324;  churchmen  in, 
53,  111,  162,  275,  2'.)2  ;  church  builr, 
113,  114,  118;  Church  in,  Km,  170. 

Westminster  Catechism  and  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  181,  182. 

Weston,  139. 

West  Point,  319. 

Wethersfield,  74. 

Wetmore,  Hev.  James,  28,  .30,  36,  49  ; 
sent  to  live,  52;  mentions  of,  100, 
101,  110,  '142,  153,  169,  174,  177; 
death  of,  220. 


470 


INDEX. 


Whigs,  321,  333,  337,  343,  351. 

White,  Bishop.  349,  374,  376-378,  381, 
390,  392;  Bishop  elect  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, 395:  consecrated  in  P^ngland, 
390;  good' offices  of,  402-418;  436, 
437,  439. 

Whitcfield,  Rev.  George,  105,  121- 
126;  results  of  his  teachings,  130, 
132,  137,  140,  150,  151,  154,  183, 
235  ;  principles  condemned,  147. 

White  Plains,  304. 

Whiting,  Mr.,  39. 

Whittelsey,  28,  30,  42. 

Wicklifte,  31. 

Wilberforce,  Bishop,  368. 

Wilberforce,  William,  352. 

William  and  Mary,  17. 

William  III.,  362. 

Wilmington,  Delaware,  390,  393. 

Wilson,^Kichard,  85. 

Windham,  99. 

Windsor,  9. 

Windsor,  England,  49. 

Winslow,  Rev.  Edward,  Missionary  at 
Stratford,  188,  189,  206,  209;  let- 
ters to  Society,  193,  210,  214,  218; 
appointed  to  Braintree,  219. 

Winthrop,  Governor  of  Massachu- 
setts, 1,  9. 

Winthrop,  John,  Governor  of  Con- 
necticut, 9,  10. 


Wollebius's  Theology,  183. 

Woodbridge,  Rev.  Mr.,  38. 

Woodbury,  55,  95,  141,  269,  288; 
meeting  of  clergy  in,  346;  church 
built,  886  ;  parish  trouble,  425,  426. 

Woodstock,  159. 

Woolsey,  President,  29. 


Yale  College,  Rector  of,  22,  28,  32  ;  es- 
tablished at  New  Haven,  33  ;  grad- 
uates of,  30,  87,  89,  102,  142,'  143, 
155-157,  159,  189,  197,  204,  206, 
208,  210,  209,  270,  293,  383,  386; 
Rector  Cutler's  services  approved, 
37 ;  displaced,  42 ;  officers  of,  63  ; 
interest  of  Johns(m  in  its  welfare, 
65  ;  Berkeley's  benefactions  to,  82- 
84;  students  of,  114;  new  Hector, 
130;  declaration  of  the  President 
and  Tutors  against  Whitcfield,  147; 
candidates  for  orders  in,  149 ;  stu- 
dents fined,  180  ;  Puritan  teachings, 
181,  182;  Episcopal  students  to  at- 
tend college  chapel,  231 ;  honors 
from,  419 ;  extracts  from  records, 
446  ,'  law  complained  of,  447-450. 

Yale,  Mr.,  448. 

Yorktown,  341. 


DATE  DUE 

ms 

'U 

PAW  4-1-^ 

^ 

GAYLORD 

PRINTED  IN  U    E.A. 

